From Col. Matt Winn To Aidan O'Brien, Ireland Has Deep Derby Roots
April 30, 2002
By, William F. Reed

"Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days! Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways" -- William Butler Yeats

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 230, 2002) - The latest links in the ancient Irish connection to the Kentucky Derby (GI) are scheduled to arrive today at Keeneland, spend a few days there in quarantine, and then be vanned to Churchill Downs on Saturday, the morning of the 128th Run for the Roses.

Their names are Johannesburg and Castle Gondolfo, both based at the famed Ballydoyle Stables in Cashel, County Tipperary, under the care of trainer Aidan O'Brien. Each will come into the Derby off a training regimine that is, well, foreign to their American peers. But each also has shown enough talent to inspire the Irish poetry of a budding Yeats or Dylan Thomas.

Johannesburg, a Kentucky-bred son of Hennessey, capped a perfect 2-year-old season with an authoritative victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) at Belmont Park, his seventh consecutive win. But this year he lost his only start by a nose to Rebelline, a 4-year-old American filly, in a seven-furlong race on the grass at The Curraugh in Ireland.

His stablemate, Castle Gondolfo, a Kentucky-bred son of Gone West, had two wins and two seconds in four starts as a two-year-old. This year he easily won his only start, the mile Fosters International Trial on the all-weather surface at Lingfield Park in England.

Both colts are owned by the Coolmore Stud of Michael Tabor and Mr. and Mrs. John Magnier. Both also will have new jockeys in the absence of Mick Kinane, who is under suspension for rough riding in England. American star Jerry Bailey is scheduled to ride Castle Gondolfo, but O'Brien hasn't named a replacement for Kinane on Johannesburg.

"The Kentucky Derby will be a huge call (challenge)," said O'Brien recently. "But with the future in mind, this year could tell us a lot about what is required to win the race."

The Irish connection to the Derby goes back a century to 1902, when Churchill hired Matt Winn, a 41-year-old tailor, to run the track and save the Derby. Winn's father was an Irish immigrant. In fact, it was from the back of his father's wagon that young Matt watched the first Derby in 1875.

Almost single-handedly, through promotion and publicity, Winn built the Derby from a nice stakes race into the world's most coveted prize. He wined and dined the top newspaper columnists from New York, lobbied the best stables to enter their horses in the Derby, established a national radio network for the Derby in 1929, and refused to cancel the Derby during World War II.

In his ability to sell and promote, Winn was much like P.T. Barnum and another colonel from Kentucky, Col. Harland Sanders, who parlayed a secret fried-chicken recipe into an international chain of fast-food restaurants.

Col. E.R. Bradley, who started a record 28 horses in the Derby from 1920-'45, also was the son of an Irish immigrant father. He won the Derby four times (Behave Yourself in 1921, Bubbling Over in '26, Burgoo King in '32, and Brokers Tip in '33), still second only to Calumet Farm's eight.

In 1968, Calumet's Hill Gail, the 1952 Derby winner, died in Ireland at age 19. He was so hard to handle that when he appeared on the brink of throwing a fit in the paddock before the Derby, trainer B.A. Jones told a groom to straighten his head. Then he punched the colt right on the nose to get his attention.

An Irishman, Bert Kerr, spent only $6,720 to buy Tomy Lee for Texas oilman Fred Turner, Jr. at England's Newmarket sales in 1957. Originally, Tomy Lee was to be little more than a companion for Tuleg, whom Kerr bought for $25,000. By Derby Day, 1959, the two had swapped roles. And Tomy Lee, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, battled Sword Dancer down the stretch in the Derby before finally prevailing by a nose.

Dancer's Image, the 1968 Derby winner who was eventually disqualified when a then-illegal medication was detected in post-race tests, stood at stud in Ireland for a few years before moving to France, then Japan, where he died in 1993. While in Ireland, he sired several horses that won some important European races.

The Irish-bred Sir Tristam, ridden by Bill Hartack, finished 11th to Cannonade in 1974, the year of the 100th Derby. It was the last Derby mount for Hartack, whose five Derby wins (Iron Leige in 1957, Venetian Way in '60, Decidedly in '62, Northern Dancer in '64, and Majestic Prince in '69) tie him with Eddie Arcaro atop the all-time list.

The Irish-bred Caro was the sire of Winning Colors, who became the second filly to win the Derby in 1988 while also giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas the first of his four Derby victories.

Trainer Niall O'Callaghan, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, on May 21, 1963, saddled Smilin Singin Sam to a 10th place finish in 1994 and Keats to a 16th-place finish last year. He doesn't have a starter in this year's Derby, but is expected to saddle Ms Brooksi in Friday's Kentucky Oaks (GI).

Finally, jockey Jim McKnight, who rode Rushing Man to a 14th-place finish in the 1975 Derby, was born on Feb. 5, 1952, in Belfast, Northern Island. Heading into the current meet, McKnight's 880 career wins at Churchill put him third behind Pat Day and Don Brumfield on the track's all-time list.

Now come Johannesburg and Castle Gondolfo.

O'Brien, no relation to the legendary Irish trainer Vincent O'Brien, began his career by training jumpers, then gradually shifted to flat racing. At 32, he has established himself as one of the leading trainers in Ireland and England, winning such races as the English Oaks (Gr. I), the English Derby (Gr. I), the Irish Derby (Gr. I), and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (Gr. I) at Ascot.

Until now, the O'Brien-trained horse best known to American fans is probably is Giant's Causeway, who lost by a nose to Tiznow in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) at Churchill Downs.

On Saturday, however, if Irish eyes are smiling and O'Brien has some of that famed luck of the Irish, Johannesburg and/or Castle Gondolfo could change that forever.

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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