Boss Is in Charge for Derby

George Steinbrenner could have sold Bellamy Road after only one race and realized a profit of close to $1 million.

Money is still the best way to keep score, whether it’s horse racing or Wall Street, but Steinbrenner turned down the cash and now he has the favorite for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.

Bandini might have convincingly won the Blue Grass at Keeneland on Saturday, the same day Afleet Alex scored a clear-cut win in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. But neither win compared to Bellamy Road’s cakewalk in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9.

Steinbrenner’s colt was simply scintillating. He won by 17 1/2 lengths, he ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47, tying a 32-year-old record set by Riva Ridge, and his Beyer speed figure was 120. That’s a higher number than any given to a Triple Crown race winner since 1991, and 14 points higher than any 3-year-old stakes winner this year.

“I felt like committing suicide,” Barry Irwin said to a friend, after watching Bellamy Road’s race at Aqueduct. Irwin, president of the Kentucky-based Team Valor, an ownership group that syndicates investors, had tried to buy Bellamy Road from Steinbrenner for $1 million last year, shortly after the colt, then trained by Michael Dickinson, broke in with a 7 1/2 -length win at Delaware Park.

A $35,000 maiden race at Delaware on the first Tuesday of August could have easily fallen through the cracks, but Millie Ball, who works for the HorseRacing TV network, alerted a colleague, Jeff Siegel, who is an officer with Team Valor. Siegel watched a tape of the Bellamy Road debut and, like Ball, was impressed.

Siegel called Irwin, who called Gene Stevens, a friend of Steinbrenner’s. When Stevens called the New York Yankee owner with Irwin’s seven-figure offer, Steinbrenner said: “I know Barry and I like him. But this is one I’m going to keep.”

Told about Steinbrenner’s rebuff, Irwin asked Stevens to call back to see if a percentage of the horse was for sale. “He can name his price,” Stevens quoted Irwin as saying.

Again, Steinbrenner, who paid $87,000 for the horse, said no. Team Valor, which finished second in the 1997 Kentucky Derby with Captain Bodgit and 14th in 2000 with The Deputy, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, does not have a Derby contender this year.

“When I bought this horse , one of my trainers told me he could be my Derby winner,” Steinbrenner said, referring to farm manager Edward Sexton. “I believed him. Then when we ran him the first time, another of my trainers [Michael Dickinson] was also very high on him. I believed both trainers. I just couldn’t sell the horse the way they were talking about him.”

Steinbrenner, 74, runs his horses under the name of Kinsman Stable, named after a Cleveland street where his German ancestors first lived in 1840.

Steinbrenner has run five horses in the Kentucky Derby. Steve’s Friend was the first, in 1977. He ran fifth at Churchill after winning the Hollywood Derby. Steinbrenner’s other Derby horses have finished no better than ninth.

He bought Bellamy Road in Florida a year ago, at an auction of unraced 2-year-olds. The colt’s sire is Concerto, who ran ninth for Steinbrenner in the 1997 Derby and stands in Florida for a cheap $5,000. Bellamy Road’s dam is Hurry Home Hillary, a Deputed Testamony mare. Deputed Testamony won the 1983 Preakness. Chief’s Crown, who sired Concerto, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Travers.

Bellamy Road has run both of his races this year -- he won by 15 3/4 lengths in an allowance start before the Wood -- for trainer Nick Zito, who has won the Derby twice and is expected to start four horses for other owners in the Derby.

Dickinson didn’t return a phone call asking about the trainer switch, but Steinbrenner said: “I wanted a trainer who knew how to win the Derby. Besides being a great trainer, Nick’s a New York guy, so that’s a great combination.”

Bellamy Road’s three starts under Dickinson last year were at different tracks. After his debut at Delaware Park, he won a Grade III stake at River Downs near Cincinnati and suffered his only loss when he ran seventh in the Grade I Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

Sexton questioned the instructions that Dickinson gave his jockey, Ramon Dominguez, that day. Javier Castellano is scheduled to ride Bellamy Road in the Derby.

With only two starts this year and five overall, Bellamy Road is testing two seldom-violated Derby precedents. In 57 years, only one horse -- Sunny’s Halo in 1983 -- has won the Derby with only two starts as a 3-year-old. Grindstone (1996) and Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) won the Derby in their sixth career starts, but since 1955 all other Derby winners have started at least six times going into the race.

All of this might be meaningless if Bellamy Road can avoid the so-called “bounce” syndrome -- regressing off a peak effort -- and come close to duplicating his Wood Memorial effort. Jockeys who finished behind him at Aqueduct were floored.

“It was a freakish performance,” said Richard Migliore, second aboard Survivalist.

Pavo, another Wood horse who was thought to have a good chance, ran sixth under Jerry Bailey, 38 1/2 lengths behind.

“I could hardly even see the winner,” Bailey said.

If Bellamy Road wins on May 7, Steinbrenner would join the late John Galbreath as a baseball owner who has won the World Series and the Derby. Galbreath, who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates, won the Derby twice, with Chateaugay in 1963 and Proud Clarion in 1967.

Steinbrenner didn’t attend the Wood, but minutes after Bellamy Road crossed the finish line, he was on the phone to his daughter, Jessica, who with Zito led the colt into the winner’s circle. Steinbrenner’s son, Hank, runs the family’s racing operation, but it’s something new for his daughter to get involved.

“Sure, I’d like to win the Derby,” Steinbrenner said, “everybody wants to do that. But this would be more important because of my daughter. It’d be great for her to be connected with a Derby winner. That would make everything extra special.”