Greenmans’ Family Bond Now a Derby Dream

When Dean Greenman was not yet in kindergarten, his father, who trained horses, left the house early one morning for a busy day at Bay Meadows Race Course.

“The filly in the stake’s going to win today,” Walter Greenman said to the young boy.

That night, Walter Greenman returned home.

“Did the filly win?” his son eagerly wanted to know.

“No,” the father said. “But all the rest of ‘em did.”

That was Nov. 25, 1970, the day Walter Greenman tied the Bay Meadows record by winning five races with the six horses he’d saddled at the Northern California track.

Dean Greenman remembered that story at his Santa Anita barn as he talked about the father he followed into the training game. Walter Greenman, who was 60, died in August, and it’s the right time for recalling this intrepid horseman, who was so riveted to the sport that in September 1999, less than a month after 2 1/2 hours of brain surgery, he traveled to Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., because there were a few yearlings that he liked in a sales catalog. That doctors told him he was daft was of no import.

“He said he was going to go, and if you knew him, you’d know that when he said something, he meant it,” Dean Greenman said. “So he went. He was doing what he wanted to do.”

His son remembers Walter buying 11 horses in Kentucky, and one of them, I Love Silver, is 6-1, third choice on the morning line, for Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, Southern California’s final important prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 5. Should I Love Silver go on to the Triple Crown wars, he will be inescapably entwined with Walter Greenman, who picked him out, bought him for $52,000, trained him early on and--yes--had him gelded before turning him over to his son with this advice: “Take your time with him, and he will go on to be a good horse.”

Greenman, who had cancer, survived the 1999 surgery that removed a malignant tumor, returning to his barn only days after the operation. But by the opening of Del Mar last July, radiation treatments had sapped most of his strength. He attended the races at the seaside track on opening day, but after that struggled just to watch his horses run on television.

He died at home Aug. 13, the day after I Love Silver had made his debut, running fifth in a field of 11 maidens. Second that day at Del Mar was Point Given, who was 19-1 even though his trainer, Bob Baffert, rated him as one of his best Kentucky Derby prospects. Point Given will be less than even money when he runs against I Love Silver and six others Saturday.

I Love Silver was second in his second start, in September at Del Mar, and in mid-October, at Santa Anita, he won for the first time. The plan after that was to run him a month later in the Hollywood Prevue, a prep for the Hollywood Futurity, but I Love Silver got sick. Dean Greenman suspects that his horse might have been bitten by a spider. At any rate, remembering his father’s advice, he pulled the plug on both of the Hollywood races.

“I turned the horse out for a couple of weeks,” Greenman said.

I Love Silver’s 3-year-old season began in January at Santa Anita, where, despite a crowded field, he won a six-furlong allowance by half a length. On March 17, that first stakes start and first opportunity at two turns finally arrived, and I Love Silver, near the back of the pack early, made a late run to finish 2 1/4 lengths behind Point Given in the San Felipe Stakes.

Greenman has lost his jockey, Eddie Delahoussaye, who has elected to ride Crafty C.T., the race’s second choice, but in Laffit Pincay, he has hired a seven-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby and right now the steadiest rider on the grounds. It has been 16 years since Pincay has won this race, but at 54 he is the meet’s leading rider and has won three times for the Greenman barn.

Maybe the epiphany was the day his father told about the filly costing him an even bigger day, but Dean Greenman has been hooked on racing from the start. One of his two sisters, Donna Greenman Alvarado, runs the 40-acre family farm in San Jacinto.

Greenman, 34, became his father’s assistant straight out of high school.

“I love horses,” he said. “I can’t get enough of them. It’s such a great feeling to be standing in the winner’s circle after you’ve won a race.”

Seven of his 17 horses might run in claiming races, but for young Greenman, there’s no distinction.

“My dad always said that you should treat all the horses alike, whether they’re claimers or running in stakes races,” he said. “He was very dedicated--the horses and the clients always came first. He was always there. He never took a vacation.”

A former jockey who once rode five winners in a day, Walter Greenman trained 44 stakes winners. His favorite horse was probably Savinio, who earned more than $1 million, twice running fifth in Breeders’ Cup races.

The closest he got to the Kentucky Derby was with Pacificbounty in 1997. The colt won the Golden Gate Derby in January, then the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows in March, and after running a close third in the Arkansas Derby, his ticket was punched for Churchill Downs. But the week of the Derby, Pacificbounty suffered a heel injury that knocked him out of the race.

Ted Bear was one of the owners of Pacificbounty. The Texan Kirk Robison, a racing enthusiast for more than 25 years, and his wife Judy lived next to Bear during the Del Mar season three years ago. Bear introduced the Robisons to Walter Greenman. The first year, they teamed to buy six horses. The second year, they bought five more. This year the Robisons have seven in training, one of them I Love Silver.

Dean Greenman sees a formidable obstacle in the Santa Anita Derby.

“I don’t want to keep taking on Point Given,” he said. “There are a lot of races around after this one. But my horse ran second last time, after not having had a race in seven weeks, and he’s improving. You have to buy into the bounce theory [a horse regressing] to believe that Point Given can be beaten. I think that’s the only thing that will beat him.”

Notes

With Chris McCarron riding, Golden Ballet shoots for her sixth consecutive win in Saturday’s $500,000 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland. The Ashland, which has drawn 11 horses, including She’s A Devil Due, is a traditional prep for the Kentucky Oaks, but Golden Ballet will skip the May 4 race at Churchill Downs. She’ll be shipped back to California for races at Hollywood Park. . . . Fifty Stars, winner of the Louisiana Derby, and Hoovergetthekeys, winner of the El Camino Real Derby, will be running Saturday in the $500,000 Lone Star Derby in Texas. Fifty Stars drew the outside in the eight-horse field. . . . Outofthebox is the 8-5 favorite against Thunder Blitz and eight others in Saturday’s $250,000 Flamingo at Hialeah. . . . Tiznow, getting ready for the Pimlico Special on May 14, worked five furlongs at Santa Anita in :59 1/5. . . . Peteski, who swept the Canadian Triple Crown in 1993, was euthanized after undergoing two operations for colic.

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The Lineup

The field for Saturday’s the 64th running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (all horses carry 122 pounds):

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Horse Jockey Odds 1. Point Given Gary Stevens 1-1 2. I Love Silver Laffit Pincay Jr. 6-1 3. Crafty C.T. Eddie Delahoussaye 9-5 4. Startac Alex Solis 15-1 5. Scorpion Victor Espinoza 30-1 6. Early Flyer Tyler Baze 12-1 7. Palmeiro Kent Desormeaux 8-1 8. Cherokee Kim David Flores 30-1

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First post time is noon. The Santa Anita Derby is the fifth race. Post time is 2:45 p.m.