9.30.1967	Photo by: Bob Coglianese/NYRA
		One of the greatest horses of the 20th century, Damascus, shown defeating Buckpasser and Dr. Fager in the 1967 Woodward Stakes (GI) at Aqueduct, finished third, beaten four lengths by longshot Proud Clairon in the 1967 Kentucky Derby (GI). An easy winner of the Preakness and Belmont, Damascus was unanimously named champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year for 1967. In 32 career starts, he had 21 wins, seven seconds, three thirds and that mysterious Derby.

Some Derby Disasters Defy Explanation
By, William F. Reed

When the heavily favored Point Given finished a dismal fifth in last year's Kentucky Derby, he was pushed reluctantly into an exclusive club to which nobody wants to belong. The members are great horses who ran the worst -- or near-worst -- race of their careers on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

In 13 career races, Point Given had nine victories and three seconds.

After the Derby, he bounced back to win four consecutive Grade I races -- the Preakness, Belmont Stakes, Haskell, and Travers. Those wins, along with his victory in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby, won him Horse-of-the-Year honors over Tiznow, the first colt to win the Breeders' Cup Classic back-to-back.

So his Derby flop stands out like a flashing neon light on his otherwise impeccable record. Asked what happened to Point Given at Churchill Downs, trainer Bob Baffert had no explanation. "He just didn't run," said the puzzled Baffert.

Neither did Granville -- literally -- in 1936.

Granville Didn't Run, Sunny Jim Couldn't See

Owned by the Belair Stud of William Woodward Sr. and trained by the legendary "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, Granville seemed to have the potential to follow in the hoofprints of Gallant Fox and Omaha, who had won the Triple Crown for Woodward and Fitzsimmons in 1930 and '35, respectively.

Ridden for the first time by jockey Jimmy Stout, Granville was a victim of the roughest star in Derby history and threw his rider just after the start. The favored Brevity, who was knocked to his knees at the start, rallied back to finish only a head back of the victorious Bold Venture.

Fitzsimmons couldn't see the race from his vantage point in the infield, so the first question he asked Stout was, "Where did you finish?"

"Right here," said Stout, tapping his head, which had hit the track.

From the Derby, Granville had five wins and two nose losses to show for his final seven starts. Despite his Derby debacle, he was named the 3-year-old champion and Horse of the Year.

Gallahadion Stuns "Big Bim" In 1940

In 1940, Col. E.R. Bradley of Lexington's Idle Hour Stock Farm came to Churchill Downs with Bimelich, who had won all eight of his starts. Although Bradley owned four Derby wins, Bimelich was considered to be his best horse ever.

Trained by Bill Hurley, who had replaced the deceased H.J. Thompson, and ridden by Cuban-born Freddie Smith, "Big Bim" settled into second place in the early going and shot to the lead in the turn for home. But in the stretch, the leg-weary Bimilech drifted out and opened the rail for the longshot Gallahadion, who paid $72.40 for a $2 win bet.

Bimelich, who went off at 40 cents to the dollar, was the biggest Derby failure up to that time. After the Derby, Hurley was criticized for his training schedule and Smith was blamed for a poor ride.

After coming back to win the Preakness, Bimilech suffered two losses in his last five starts. However, those defeats weren't considered to be a big as his upset in the Derby because he had developed a foot problem that prematurely ended his career. He retired with 11 wins and two seconds to show for 15 starts, and was named champion 3-year-old for 1940.

Arcaro Gets His Choice, Makes Wrong Decision

In the 1942 Derby, trainer John Gaver ran an entry, Devil Diver and Shut Out, for the famed Greentree Stable. Gaver gave jockey Eddie Arcaro his choice, and Arcaro picked Devil Diver, even though the consistent colt (five wins, seven seconds, and a third in 13 career starts) had missed some training because of a leg injury suffered at Keeneland. Gaver then retained Wayne "Goldie" Wright to ride Shut Out.

Well, Shut Out rolled to a solid win over Alsab and Devil Diver struggled home sixth, almost eight lengths behind the winner. Afterward, an angry and puzzled Arcaro snapped at the media. "I feel bad enough," he said. "Why ask me any questions? I just made a mistake. Dammit, you saw the race."

Actually, Arcaro picked the right horse. Devil Diver, who was named champion handicap horse in 1944, belongs to the racing Hall of Fame and Shut Out doesn't. In his 47-race career, Devil Diver suffered only one loss worse than his Derby performance, finishing 10th in the 1942 Continental Handicap at Jamaica in New York.

C.V. Whitney Entry Flops In 1951

The C.V. Whitney entry of Counterpoint and Mameluke was made the lukewarm second choice in the wide-open 1951 Derby. Battle Morn was made the favorite, mainly because Arcaro chose to ride him. Counterpoint, a son of Count Fleet trained by Syl Veitch, was considered the better of the two Whitney horses. However, he never fired and finished a sorry 11th, beaten 12 lengths by Count Turf.

The rest of the year, Counterpoint won six of his 10 starts, and was named both champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year. As for his baffling Derby performance, the offical chart only said, "Counterpoint tired badly after racing prominently to the upper turn." In 21 career starts, his Derby was his second-worst performance.

"Gray Ghost" No Lock On Derby Day In 1953

Only once has a Hall-of-Fame horse suffered his only defeat in the Derby. That happened in 1953, when the great gray ghost, Native Dancer, was upset by Dark Star in the 79th Derby.

Unbeaten and unchallenged in his first 11 starts, Native Dancer was considered to be a lock for owner Alfred G. Vanderbilt, trainer Bill Winfrey and jockey Eric Guerin. The Derby crowd sent him off a 70 cents to the dollar in the 11-horse field. Everybody expected a coronation more than a horse race.

But Dark Star, trained by Eddie Hayward and ridden by Hank Moreno for Capt. Harry Guggenheim's Cain Hoy Stable, took the lead soon after the start and held off Native Dancer's late bid to win by a head. Or, as the chart had it, he "could not overtake the winner, although probably best."

Native Dancer could have lost the race in the first turn, when he was roughed up by jockey Alfred Popara aboad Money Broker. That forced Guerin to take him back, steady him, and then go wide on the backstretch. "I talked to Money Broker's jockey after the race," Guerin said. "He told me his horse was lugging in and he couldn't hold him. But, truthfully, I think he was lying. I don't think it was an accident."

However, it surely caused an aberration. Native Dancer retired with only one loss in 22 career starts.

Bold Ruler Could Do No Better Than Fourth

In 1957, the brilliant Bold Ruler was made the odds-on favorite in a strong field that included Round Table and Gallant Man. In 15 career starts, Bold Ruler had finished worse than second only twice, and both times he had excuses.

Owned by Wheatley Stable, Bold Ruler was to be the last Derby horse trained by Sunny Jim Fitzimmons. He also had Arcaro, then at the peak of his career, in his saddle. His chances seemed to improve dramatically the morning of the race, when likely favorite Gen. Duke of Calumet Farm was declared out of the race with a foot injury.

In the Derby, Bold Ruler finished fourth, but never seriously challenged.

The winner was Iron Leige, Calumet's second-stringer, who won at least partly because jockey Bill Shoemaker, aboard Gallant Man, misjudged the finish line and briefly stood up in the irons at the 16th pole.

In 17 starts after the Derby, Bold Ruler posted 13 wins and was beaten only twice by margins larger than the 5 3/4 lengths by which he lost the Derby. Bold Ruler was named 1957's Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion.

In retirement, he was America's leading sire seven straight years. One of his sons was Secretariat.

2-1 Chalk Checks In Next To Last In 1965

Eight years later, the Derby was the scene of another bitter loss for Wheatley and trainer Bill Winfrey, who had conditioned Native Dancer. They came into the 1965 Derby with high hopes for Bold Lad, a son of Bold Ruler who had turned a lot of heads while ripping off 10 wins and two seconds in 13 starts.

Bold Lad became jockey Bill Hartack's first Derby favorite when the crowd sent him off at odds of 2-to-1. Incredibly, however, Bold Lad struggled home next to last in the 11-horse field, at least a dozen lengths behind the victorious Lucky Debonair.

Hartack said he felt something was physically wrong with the colt on the way to the starting gate. He didn't race again in 1965, but came back the next year to win four of his five starts and was retired to stud with 14 wins, two seconds and a third in 19 career starts.

Damascus Spun His Wheels In The Slop

The "big horse" in 1967 was Damascus, owned by Mrs. Edith Bancroft and trained by the irascible Frank Whiteley. He came into the Derby with such an impressive record -- six wins and two seconds in eight starts -- that the crowd at Churchill Downs sent him off as the $1.70-to-$1 favorite.

But on a gloomy, rainy day at Churchill, Damascus floundered on the sloppy track and finished third to the longhsot Proud Clarion, beaten four lengths. Only once in his Hall of Fame career did Damascus lose by a larger margin, not counting the 1968 Jockey Club Gold Cup, where he bowed a tendon in what was to be his final race.

"He just ran out of gas," said jockey Shoemaker after the Derby. "No excuses."

An easy winner in the Preakness and Belmont, Damascus was unanimously named champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year for 1967. In 32 career starts, he had 21 wins, seven seconds, three thirds and that mysterious Derby.

The sentimental favorite in the 1970 Derby, and the second pick in the betting pools, was Personality, The colt carried the salmon pink-and-green silks of Mrs. Ethel Jacobs, widow of then all-time training leader Hirsch Jacobs (3,596 wins). He was by Hail to Reason out of Affectionately, who both won championships for the Jacobses.

Personality Couldn't Handle Water, Proud Clarion

Personality came into the Derby off two consecutive wins -- an allowance race and the Wood Memorial in New York. But on the first Saturday in May, he finished eighth to Dust Commander in the 96th Derby, beaten by 12 lengths, which turned out to be the second biggest margin of defeat in his career.

Jockey Eddie Belmonte came up with an excuse for Personality that many found tough to swallow. He said that just when the colt was gathering momentum at the quarter pole, he was distracted by four spots of water on the track. "I'll always believe he would have won had it not been for the water," Belmonte said.

But Personality regrouped to win the Preakness, Jersey Derby, and Woodward on his way to the 3-year-old championship.

Snow Chief's Five Race Winning Streak Was Snapped In 1986

Snow Chief came to the 1986 Derby with a five-race winning streak that included victories in both the Florida Derby and Santa Anita Derby. The colt seemed poised to give trainer Mel Stute and jockey Alex Solis their first sniff of roses. Instead, he threw in an unbelievable clunker, finishing 11 to the Ferdinand by a whopping 19 1/2-lengths.

Stute was do dispirited that he thought seriously about not going on to Baltimore for the Preakness. But when the colt seemed to adapt well to the Pimlico track, Stute entered him and saw his faith vindicated with a four-length win.

Snow Chief never again came close to running as badly as he had run in the Derby. He won the 3-year-old championship, and was retired in 1987 with 13 wins, three seconds, and five thirds to show for his 24 career starts.

Filly Gets The Best Of Risen Star

Risen Star, a son of Secretariat, was the media horse of the 1988 Derby.

His trainer and co-owner, Louie Roussel, was so carefree that he was nicknamed "Screwy Louie," and his partner, Ronnie Lamarque, was a former car salesman and lounge singer. Most importantly, Risen Star had won four of his five starts as a 3-year-old, including three in a row.

In the Derby, however, he finished third to the filly Winning Colors, which turned out to be the only time in his career where he finished worse than second. Still, many observors felt he would have won the Derby had he not been forced wide on the backstretch. Risen Star vindicated that opinion with a 1 1/4-length win in the Preakness and a stunning 14 3/4-length win in the Belmont Stakes.

That virtuoso performance turned out to be his final race. Despite his curtailed schedule, he was an easy winner of the 3-year-old colt championship.

Hansel Won Two Legs Of The Triple Crown, But Not The Derby

Off back-to-back wins in the Jim Beam at Turfway Park and the Lexington at Keeneland, Hansel came into the 1991 Derby as the "now" horse. The crowd sent him off as the $2.50 to $1 favorite, then watched in shock as he staggered home 10th, beaten 10 3/4 lengths by Strike the Gold.

Trainer Frank Brothers was so upset that he thought about skipping the Preakness. However, when he told training mentor Jack Van Berg that the son of Woodman seemed to be doing well, Van Berg advised him to give the colt a chance to redeem himself in Baltimore. He won the Preakness by seven lengths, then added the Belmont with a head victory over Strike the Gold.

Although he was retired after losing the Travers by a neck to Corporate Report, Hansel was named champion 3-year-old in voting by the National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form correspondents, and racing secretaries.

Did Somebody "Get To" Holy Bull? There's No Evidence

When Holy Bull won Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths in 1994, he ran his record to six wins in seven starts and was shipped to Churchill Downs billed as a potential superstar.

Trained by Jimmy Croll and ridden by Mike Smith, Holy Bull had a pedestrian workout at Churchill the Monday before the Derby and didn't seem himself going to the paddock. Nevertheless, he was made the overwhelming favorite ($2.20 to $1) in the 14-horse field.

So all he did was shock and amaze everyone by finishing 12th to Go for Gin on a sloppy track. He was beaten by some 20 lengths, easily the worst race of his career. He rebounded to win his last five starts of 1994, capturing such respected races as the Haskell, Travers, and Woodward.

He was such a lock for Horse of the Year that Croll kept him in the barn instead of supplementing him for the Breeders Cup Classic. In 16 career starts, his only three losses were in the Fountain of Youth, where he stopped badly; the Derby; and the 1995 Donn Handicap, where he suffered the leg injury that ended his career.

Haunted by the Derby fiasco, Croll later charged that "somebody must have got to my horse," meaning that an outsider had given him a tranquilizer or something else to make him run sluggishly. However, no evidence was ever found to support that contention.

Skip Away Never Much Cared For Louisville

In 1996, another veteran trainer, Sonny Hine, came to the Derby with his horse of a lifetime. Skip Away ran in the name of Hine's wife, Carolyn, and was ridden in the Derby by Shane Sellers. The Hines had tried to sell him earlier, thinking he wouldn't amount to much, but were forced to take him back when the sale fell through.

Skip Away earned his ticket to the Derby with a six-length win in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, running his record to three wins, three seconds, and a third in 10 starts. He wasn't expected to win the Derby, as his 7-to-1 odds indicated, but he was expected to run better than 12th in the 19-horse field.

After finishing second in the Preakness and Belmont, he won the Ohio Derby to begin his relentless march to the top of the game. As a 5-year-old in 1998, even a disappointing sixth in the Breeders Cup Classic at Churchill, a race he had won the previous year at Hollywood Park, wasn't deemed as important to his Horse-of-the-Year chances as his sparkling record of seven wins in nine starts, including such coveted prizes as the Donn Handicap, Pimlico Special, Massachusetts Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup and Woodward.

His 12th place Derby finished was easily the worst of his career, as was his 17-length margin of defeat. Hine and Sellers, who later was replaced by Jerry Bailey, had no logical explanation for his Derby disaster.

That's usually the way it is when a great horse finishes up the track in the world's most coveted race.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report, contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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