Congaree Looks for Easier Berth, This One in the Winner’s Circle

Bob McNair has a sentimental attachment to the Congaree River, which flows through central South Carolina. Before they were married, McNair and wife Janice were undergraduates in Columbia, S.C., and some of their dates were idyllic boat rides on the Congaree.

McNair had such fondness for the Congaree that he named one of his horses after the river. The Congaree is 60 miles long; the McNairs will settle for 1 1/4 miles Saturday when Congaree the colt runs in the 127th Kentucky Derby.

“It’s an exciting prospect,” McNair said, dreaming the dream of winning a Derby. “Because we bred the colt and have seen him through all the tough times.”

For a horse that has run only four times--the last Derby winner with such little seasoning was Exterminator in 1918--Congaree has had an eventful life. He was a gigantic 152 pounds at birth, and five of his ribs were cracked as he was squeezed through the birth canal. As a result, he spent his first 45 days in his stall while recovering from the injuries.

At six months, during weaning, Congaree caught pneumonia and McNair said that it was touch and go for a while. Then a cough at Saratoga last summer postponed the colt’s first start. That finally came at Del Mar in September, but he chipped a knee while running sixth and underwent surgery.

Finally, trainer Bob Baffert was able this year to train Congaree with no interruptions. Since, the son of Arazi, the sensational 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner at Churchill Downs, has won three in a row going into the Derby. He broke his maiden at Santa Anita on Feb. 28, beating maidens by five lengths at a mile; three weeks later, he won by eight there at 1 1/16 miles; and on April 14, in his first stakes start, he was a 2 3/4-length winner at Aqueduct in the Wood Memorial, a race that included Monarchos, winner of the Florida Derby and another Kentucky Derby entrant.

Congaree is another in a lengthening line of successful horses for McNair, who promised himself that he’d merely dabble in horses, then smashed that vow to smithereens. Stonerside owned one-third of Strodes Creek, second to Go For Gin in the 1994 Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes.

The McNairs were minority partners with Frank Stronach in Touch Gold, whose 1997 Belmont win cost Silver Charm the Triple Crown. Then, in 1999, they won an Eclipse Award with Chilukki, the country’s best 2-year-old filly.

Eight years ago, McNair would have safely predicted that none of this was possible. He and one of his golf partners in Houston, Bill O’Connell, were racing a couple of ordinary horses together. Sam Houston Race Park had just opened, and McNair wanted to support his local track.

A little later, O’Connell was going through a divorce, and he told McNair: “A couple of racehorses are really something I don’t need right now.”

McNair bought out O’Connell, and then had what might be described as a courtesy lunch with John Adger, the veteran Texas bloodstock agent.

“I’ll never own a farm, and I’ll never have more than 10 horses,” McNair advised Adger, who was prepared to make the full pitch.

After watching Congaree work six furlongs Monday in a sharp 1:11 1/5, the McNairs have been missing from the colt’s barn at Churchill Downs the last two days. They left Tuesday with Adger for their training center in Aiken, S.C., which is just a small part of their racing and breeding holdings.

In 1994, the McNairs bought 1,200 acres of Arthur Hancock III’s Stone Farm in Paris, Ky. They also own the old Greentree Stable property, hard by the Saratoga track in upstate New York. In terms of horses, the McNairs own dozens of broodmares and were fortunate enough to breed three to Dubai Millennium before his death in England this week.

What fuels this substantial investment?

McNair’s 1999 sale of COGEN Technologies for $1.5 billion has helped some. What McNair hasn’t plowed into the horse industry he has spent on the Houston Texans, the NFL team that begins play next year. The franchise fee and new stadium in Houston came to about $1 billion.

Dom Capers, the first coach of the Texans, called McNair minutes after Congaree’s win in the Wood and said: “What we ought to do is draft a running back as fast and big as that horse.”

With Hancock, Stonerside was the co-breeder of Fusaichi Pegasus, the $4-million yearling that won last year’s Kentucky Derby for Fusao Sekiguchi of Japan.

Congaree’s bloodlines are closely linked with the NFL. Arazi, who after double knee surgery ran eighth in the 1992 Derby, was bred by Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills. Mari’s Sheba, who won only three of 14 starts, was bred by Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Washington Redskins. Mari’s Sheba was bought in a 35-mare package from Cooke a few months before he died.

Arazi was not a physically impressive horse, and the only similarity between him and Congaree is that they’re both chestnuts. It’s probably fortunate that Congaree bears the stamp of his dam.

He’ll be ridden by Victor Espinoza, who has never had a Derby mount. Espinoza has ridden Congaree in all three of his wins, but after the Wood he needed to survive persistent rumors that Baffert might switch to a more high-profile rider. Jerry Bailey twice spurned the chance to ride Congaree, in an allowance race at Santa Anita and in the Wood.

Baffert tries to keep the McNairs loose. As they stood in the box-seat area at Churchill Downs the other day, waiting for Congaree to break off for his workout, the trainer turned to McNair and said: “Hey, Bob, did you bring your stopwatch?”

McNair is hopeful, but he really doesn’t know what to expect Saturday. Congaree is a super-charged horse, and how much energy he expends in the opening mile will determine how much he has left for the long run through the stretch.

“Maybe this horse is an aberration,” McNair said. “Or maybe we’re just lucky and we’ll win a Derby. After all this horse has been through, no matter what he does, he’ll always be special to us.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Kentucky Derby Field

The field, in post-position order, for the 127th Kentucky Derby, to be run Saturday at Churchill Downs:

*--*

PP Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1 Songandaprayer Aaron Gryder John F. Dowd 20-1 2 Millennium Wind Laffit Pincay David Hofmans 6-1 3 Balto Star Mark Guidry Todd A. Pletcher 8-1 4 Thunder Blitz Edgar Prado Joseph Orseno 30-1 5 Fifty Stars Donnie Meche Steven M. Asmussen 50-1 6 Express Tour David Flores Saeed bin Suroor 15-1 7 Arctic Boy Alex Solis Tony Richey 50-1 8 Congaree Victor Espinoza Bob Baffert 5-1 9 A P Valentine Corey Nakatani Nick Zito 15-1 10 Dollar Bill Pat Day Dallas Stewart 10-1 11 Talk Is Money Jerry Bailey John F. Scanlan 50-1 12 Startac Alex Solis Simon Bray 50-1 13 Invisible Ink John Velazquez Todd A. Pletcher 30-1 14 Keats Larry Melancon Niall M. O’Callaghan 30-1 15 Jamaican Rum Eddie Delahoussaye James Cassidy 50-1 16 Monarchos Jorge Chavez John T. Ward Jr. 6-1 17 Point Given Gary Stevens Bob Baffert 9-5

*--*

OTHER FACTS

* Owners (by post position): 1. Devil Eleven Stable & D J Stable; 2. David & Jill Heerensperger; 3. Anstu Stables. 4. Stronach Stable; 5. James Cassels and Bob Zollars; 6. Godolphin Racing Inc.; 7. Allen Paulsen Living Trust; 8. Stonerside Stable; 9. Ol Memorial Stable & Michael Tabor; 10. Gary and Mary West; 11. Daniel Borislow; 12. Royce Roberts; 13. Peachtree Stable; 14. Henry Pabst; 15. Southern Nevada Racing Stables; 16. John Oxley; 17. The Thoroughbred Corporation.

* Purse: $1.112 million if 17 start. First place: $812,000; second place: $175,000; third place: $85,000; fourth place: $45,000.

* Distance: 1 1/4 miles.

* Weights: All horses carry 126 pounds.

* Post time: 3 p.m. PDT.

* TV: Channel 4 (Coverage begins at 2 p.m. PDT.)

THE DRAW

Order of selection and the post positions chosen on Wednesday:

*--*

Horse Select. Post Order Chosen A P Valentine 1 9 Congaree 2 8 Arctic Boy 3 7 Dollar Bill 4 10 Express Tour 5 6 Fifty Stars 6 5 Keats 7 14 Talk Is Money 8 11 Invisible Ink 9 13 Startac 10 12 Jamaican Rum 11 15 Thunder Blitz 12 4 Monarchos 13 16 Point Given 14 17 Balto Star 15 3 Millennium Wind 16 2 Songandaprayer 17 1

*--*