Odds Are in Zito’s Favor
Trainer Nick Zito won the Kentucky Derby in 1991 with Strike The Gold, then won again in 1994 with Go For Gin. At dinner the night after Go For Gin’s win, Zito mused, “Winning the Derby every three years. That wouldn’t be too bad, would it?”
But that’s not the way it works with the Derby gods. Zito hasn’t won a Derby since, having started 11 horses and finishing no better than fourth.
Zito’s Louis Quatorze, who would win the Preakness, ran 16th in the Derby. Last year, his Birdstone, who would win the Belmont and the Travers, was eighth at Churchill Downs.
“A preacher friend of mine told me, ‘Great expectations can bring great disappointments,’ ” Zito said.
“This might be the greatest sport played outdoors, but it brings disappointments. It’s inevitable. You just don’t win them all. Look at [Bob] Baffert. He won the Derby three times, just like that, and now, the last couple of years, he hasn’t won it again. Is he less of a trainer? Of course not. He’s won three, which shows you that he knows how to do it.”
Zito, a 57-year-old New Yorker who notched his first training victory in 1972, could saddle four losing horses in this year’s Derby and still have a good day. That’s because he’s on track to have five Derby starters, a feat achieved only by Wayne Lukas, who started a quintet in 1996, the year his Grindstone won.
“I’m a corny guy,” Zito said, “but God’s rocking me in his arms these days.”
Zito has already run one-two in the Florida Derby, with High Fly and Noble Causeway. He won last Saturday’s Wood Memorial with Bellamy Road, whose 17 1/2 -length win was timed in 1:47, which tied the Aqueduct record for 1 1/8 miles. The other record holder, Riva Ridge, won the Derby and the Belmont in 1972.
High Fly, Noble Causeway and Bellamy Road won’t run again until the Kentucky Derby on May 7. They are expected to be joined by two more Zito runners -- Sun King and Andromeda’s Hero, who are running in $750,000 preps Saturday. Sun King, winner of the Tampa Bay Derby in his last start, is the 2-1 second choice, behind the 9-5 High Limit, in the Blue Grass here at Keeneland. Andromeda’s Hero is a 10-1 outsider in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, where Afleet Alex is the 2-1 favorite.
If all five make it to the Derby, according to a Kentucky rule, they will run as separate betting interests.
Although Zito’s program has long been geared to get promising 3-year-olds to the Derby, he’s as overwhelmed as anyone else that he might start more than 25% of this year’s field. In January, training his horses at the Palm Meadows center near Gulfstream Park in South Florida, he said that Sun King was his only legitimate Derby horse.
At the time, Noble Causeway was winless in three starts. Andromeda’s Hero had only recently broken his maiden. Bellamy Road and High Fly were in the barns of other trainers.
But then Noble Causeway and Andromeda’s Hero started winning, and the owners of Bellamy Road and High Fly -- George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the New York Yankees, and Charlotte Weber, a Campbell’s soup heiress -- transferred their colts to Zito. Bellamy Road and High Fly are undefeated in four starts under Zito.
“There’s no secret to any of this,” Zito said. “These are some good horses that I’m training. Trainers are only the coaches, the managers. It’s the players -- the horses -- who make you or break you.”
In 1996, Lukas started five horses for three ownership groups in the Derby. This year, Zito’s horses run for five owners. Tracy Farmer, a 66-year-old Kentuckian, owns Sun King, whom he bought at auction for $400,000 in 2003. Farmer got into the game in the 1990s when, through Kentucky breeder Bob Clay, he bought into a horse owned by Steinbrenner. The horse was trained by Zito, and Farmer, whose money comes from banking, real estate and car dealerships, has been with the trainer ever since.
“Nick is a classic trainer,” Farmer said. “He’s very competitive, and he thinks about his horses continuously. He has total commitment. He hires good people, and they make sure the horses are well-cared for and happy.”
Zito grew up about a mile from Aqueduct in the New York City borough of Queens. His father took him to the track, and had security guards watch the boy while the father made his bets. Eventually, a slightly older Zito began jumping the fence to go to the races.
Zito found himself at the track so much that he figured he might as well get a job there. Buddy Jacobson, a premier claiming trainer who eventually died in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s lover, gave a 15-year-old Zito his first racetrack job, as a hotwalker who cooled off horses after workouts. Zito went on to jobs with other successful trainers -- Bob Lake, Johnny Campo and LeRoy Jolley. This year, Zito is trying to copy Campo by winning the Derby with a horse who started with another trainer. Campo took over Pleasant Colony shortly before the colt won the Derby in 1981.
Jolley, who saddled two Derby winners, is in the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Zito is on the ballot this year, along with Dale Baird, Gary Jones, Mel Stute and John Veitch. The results of the voting will be announced May 31.
“Just being on the ballot is honor enough,” Zito said. “To get in would be a great achievement.”
Zito has won the Blue Grass three times, the first time with Strike The Gold. A win with Sun King on Saturday would break the stakes record he shares with Jolley, Ben Jones and Woody Stephens.
*
High Limit, the Louisiana Derby winner, is undefeated in three starts. Here is the Blue Grass lineup, in order of post position, with jockeys and odds: Mr Sword, Jerry Bailey, 30-1; Closing Argument, Cornelio Velasquez, 10-1; Spanish Chestnut, Gary Stevens, 15-1; Consolidator, Rafael Bejarano, 7-2; High Limit, Ramon Dominguez, 9-5; Sun King, Edgar Prado, 2-1; and Bandini, John Velazquez, 4-1. The forecast is for sunshine. A fast track is likely.
At Oaklawn Park, Afleet Alex, who was later found to have a lung infection, will try to atone for a last-place finish in the Rebel Stakes. The Arkansas Derby field, starting on the inside: Batson, Andromeda’s Hero, Canteen, Rush Bay, Flower Alley, Afleet Alex, Wild Desert, Real Dandy, Cat Shaker and Greater Good, whose win in the Rebel was his third in a row.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
NICK ZITO’S KENTUCKY DERBY HOPEFULS
HIGH FLY
* Owner: Live Oak Plantation
* Jockey: Jerry Bailey
* Next race: Kentucky Derby, May 7
* Last race: Won Florida Derby, April 2
* 2005 record: 4, 3-0-1
* 2004 record: 2, 2-0-0
* Earnings: $897,300
* Graded stakes earnings: $796,500
*
SUN KING
* Owner: Tracy Farmer
* Jockey: Edgar Prado
* Next race: Blue Grass Stakes, Saturday
* Last race: Won Tampa Derby, March 19
* 2005 record: 2, 2-0-0
* 2004 record: 4, 1-0-2
* Earnings: $414,650
* Graded stakes earnings: $365,000
*
NOBLE CAUSEWAY
* Owner: My Meadowview Farm
* Jockey: Edgar Prado
* Next race: Kentucky Derby, May 7
* Last race: 2nd, Florida Derby, April 2
* 2005 record: 4, 2-2-0
* 2004 record: 2, 0-1-0
* Earnings: $245,780
* Graded stakes earnings: $190,000
*
BELLAMY ROAD
* Owner: Kinsman Stable (George Steinbrenner)
* Jockey: Javier Castellano
* Next race: Kentucky Derby, May 7
* Last race: Won Wood Memorial, April 9
* 2005 record: 2, 2-0-0
* 2004 record: 3, 2-0-0
* Earnings: $611,400
* Graded stakes earnings: $570,000
*
ANDROMEDA’S HERO
* Owner: Robert LaPenta
* Jockey: Rafael Bejarano
* Next race: Arkansas Derby, Saturday
* Last race: 5th, Lane’s End, March 26
* 2005 record: 3, 1-0-1
* 2004 record: 2, 1-0-1
* Earnings: $80,270
* Graded stakes earnings: $15,000
Note: In records, number of races is followed by win-place-show Source: Associated Press
**
Nick’s picks
Trainer Nick Zito’s Kentucky Derby hopefuls and possible jockeys:
*--* HORSE JOCKEY High Fly Jerry Bailey Sun King Edgar Prado Noble Causeway Edgar Prado Bellamy Road Javier Castellano Andromeda’s Hero Rafael Bejarano
*--*