Well, thankfully I didn’t run into anyone at the hotel bar last evening and went to bed early enough to get up and really see some impressive workouts this morning down at the track. I am certainly forming some opinions about who I think will be the winners in these races. If you’ve read my weekly BTB articles that doesn’t give you a heck of a lot of hope though.

So it is festival time here at Derby week. If you were here yesterday, you sure didn’t want to miss the Stock Yards Bank Great Bed Races at the fairgrounds. What a hoot! Here are a couple of my favorites.

I’m sure that none of you guys would want to take that Tiger’s place in the middle bed! Today is also the Bluegrass Derby Great Steamboat Race, an annual tradition that takes you back in time on the river pitting the Delta Queen of Cincinnati against The Belle of Louisville. Find your way onto one of the boats, or if not pack a picnic and once again head to the banks of the Ohio River to watch these steamboats go up the river, then come back down. Believe it or not, cheating does sometimes occur. Bring plenty of food, drink and entertainment–this is not a two minute race! A great way to spend a lazy Wednesday afternoon.

I spent a good part of yesterday hanging around the track talking to owners and trainers. You can really get some great stories out there. Here is a little of what I found:

Owner BigMoose2 from the Squirrel Stables Group gave me some interesting insight on her horse, TAXI DRIVER . You could tell she was really excited about this week when she told me, “This will be my first Derby entrant. He was given to me by Silver Charm, Given and Lenny of the GR Simsters for my birthday last year. They came up with the name as a way to thank me for ferrying them from the Louisville Pizza Company to their hotel after the Sim Derby gathering last year which several Simsters attended.”

”Regarding TAXI DRIVER’s chances in the Derby, I thought they were great back in February.” She drew a deep breath and said, “His lack of a graded win after several opportunities seriously concerns me, but the ease with which he won that 9.5 furlong listed Stakes suggests all is not lost. And he’s definitely good enough to run well against the best of the best, as his multiple graded placings have shown.”

I could barely keep up with Crandyiv of the Stables of the same name, long enough to get a few quotes from him about his Derby hopeful, HENIANLAUCH. He was running around like a madman trying to make sure that everything is just right for his first Bluegrass outing. I was out of breath following him around but he threw some information over his shoulder to me about his colt’s unusual name. “It’s simple really,” he spouted. “He was bred on the 3rd of March, 2006 by Hennessy x Ogygian x Relauch hence HENIANLAUCH.”

He went on as I tried to catch up and write at the same time, “ As a two year old he had nine races and went 3 – 3 – 2, only out of the money one time. He does real good up to 8.5 furlongs, hopefully he can hang on in the Derby. As a relative newbie to the horse racing game, I can’t imagine a horse who has made it to the top twenty not at least trying in the big race!” After that I bid him goodbye and stopped to catch my breath. I’ve got to get in better shape.

So if you think Candyiv was busy, wait until you hear about Rafa who is shipping in three horses from his Spain based Rafa Stables Group this week. He has two entries in the Oaks and one in the Derby! What a wealth of riches. Here are his comments on each of his runners:

TUBIA out of the Bellissimo Stable: “This girl has surprised me. She was bred for Turf, you see her “mother” wonall of her races on Turf, so I was hoping she would follow suit. She should be fine on the distance, but I don’t think she has a good probability of wiinnig. We will try to give her thelead and we’ll see where she goes from there.”

ZARALLANA out of the Sonsierra Stable : “Another that was bred for Turf, but in this case , her”mother” ran equal on Turf or Dirt. She began her career on Turf, doing not badly, but when switched to Dirt she exploded. Improving in all her races except the Graded debut, I think she has a good chance of being in the first three. She has a curious and I think great inbreed to the mare SOMETHINGROYAL.”

ATAUN out of the PalmIsland Stable: “Yes, this one was bred for dirt, but he is a late bloomer, beginning to run well in February. I always had high hopes for him with his pedigree and the late knock he had. In his last opportunity to lock up a spot in the Derby, he ran his best race. I believe he is improving more and comes to the race in his best shape to date. This is my fourth try at the Derby, and all others were bad, but I hope this year I have my best chance of finishing at the top. I like the inbreeding he has with Native Dancer and especially on Nasrullah.

After sharing his time with me, he gave me one more nugget of information that is pretty amazing. He winked and said, “One last thing, common to all my entrants. They were all bred over “he-mares” of Grade F or G, but with very good breeding. It looks like that worked out pretty well.”

I’ll say! How come all of my “F”s and “G”s look more like “F”lotsam and “G”lue?

I also got to chat with trainer Lucha of the Lucha Stables about his powerful chestnut colt, GLOBAL AFFAIR . He filled me in on this fifth ranked Derby entry, “It’s kind of funny how this colt turned out to be a derby entrant. I thought all along that if I was lucky enough to get to the derby that ALL FLAGS GOLD in my MuchaLucha Stable would be the one to get me there. It’s been a while since I’ve had a derby contender, but this year I was blessed with two nice colts. I always felt like I was rushing with ALL FLAGS GOLD , and I was. Because he started his career so late I knew he couldn’t miss a beat and still make the derby. He made it every step of the way until that last one hundred yards or so of the Grade I CHICAGO DERBY lock race where he finished second to the fine colt > GRAMID . I still thought it was a good race for him because it was his first graded race, but it stopped his derby chances”, he said dejectedly.

”All the while AFFAIR kept improving. It took him three starts to break his maiden, and that win was followed by his only race on an off track. He finished third that day a little over a length back, and it is the only race of his nine that he hasn’t finished first or second. He then went on a three race win streak as he marched through his allowance conditions. His speed figures have also gradually improved with almost every start.” “I never felt rushed with him because I never thought he was derby material until he finished second in his next to last start. If there was a shot to make the derby I had to find out then. The G3 Gary Asher Stakes was his first stakes race as well as his first graded race. The race was filled with stakes winners and stakes placed horses. It was a good field and a good test. He was second that race and earned a start in a derby lock race. In the derby lock Grade I WOODEN INDIAN he improved again to win the race and a place in the derby starting gate. He posted a 99 speed figure—his highest figure to date.” “Admittadly, at this point I feel lucky to have a starter, but I also feel like he has somewhat of an outside chance. He would have to improve again, but the possibility that he might do so is there. He has experience, but not a lot of stakes experience. I doubt any horse in sim history has made it in the derby field with fewer stakes starts than GLOBAL AFFAIR . I hope somebody looks that up and tells me,” he chuckled. “I’m sure they will.”

One more quick story before I run off to the Steamboat Races.

I was able to track down trainer WinOrPlace whose beautiful light grey colt LUCKY’S CAPITAL is part the Mr Lucky’s group. WinOrPlace Stable resides in the Alpine residency. He was a little tough to talk too as he was seemingly floating two feet off of the ground. Let me tell you, this trainer is HAPPY to be here! He told me, “This colt was bred to run the grass for some resident challenges, he couldn’t cut it as a two year old and I almost put him in the auction. I wanted to try the dirt one more time and “POW”, he loved it. I guess that is the “Rest of the Story.” I have been playing the horse racing game for two years, and he’s my first derby runner. I can’t even begin to explain how ecstatic I am just to have one here. Right now, it’s not a time for win or lose, I accomplished my goal, I have a Derby contender!”

As I said, he is a little bit excited to saddle up his first Derby entry. He went on, “His last start out was pretty sad, but he was only running at 90%. He came up sharp this week so we will see if he can run that 106 speed figure.”

I can tell you, if LUCKY’s CAP wins this race, they had better have the CPR crew waiting next to WinOrPlace because he will most likely be unable to handle the adrenaline rush! That’s it for today, there are too many things going on and I hate to miss out on anything. I’ve got to get back here for the drawing of the post positions and jockey assignments later this evening and believe it or not, there is a party after that!

Good luck to all runners!