Are Empire Maker, Senor Swinger And Indy Dancer The Real Deal Or Fool's Gold?
By: William F. Reed

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (Mar. 15, 2003) - At some point on the road to the Kentucky Derby, the time arrives when a horse must prove whether his potential is the real deal or only fool's gold. For Empire Maker, Indy Dancer, and Senor Swinger, the time may come in this afternoon's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

And the horse who is going to test them, who is going to expose them as contenders or pretenders, is Trust N Luck, a $200,000 sales purchase whose senior-citizen owner, Jamaican-born trainer, and Panamanian jockey are largely unknown outside of Florida.

In terms of glamour, the Trust N Luck team pales in comparison with the Empire Maker team. That royally-bred colt is owned by Juddmonte Farms, trained by Bobby Frankel, and ridden by Jerry Bailey, who each won an Eclipse Award last year as the best in their profession.

Frankel thinks so highly of Empire Maker, who has only a maiden victory to show from three career starts to date, that he still called the son of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled his top Derby prospect even after another of his Derby contenders, Peace Rules, had defeated a strong field last week in winning the Louisiana Derby.

"Trust N Luck is the horse we have to beat," Bailey said. "He will control the pace. But Bobby is putting blinkers on him [Empire Maker] now, so I'll probably be a little closer to the pace. That's essential going into this race."

And then there's Indy Dancer, a son of 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy. He's owned by Wertheimer Farm, trained by Todd Pletcher, and ridden by John Velasquez. After winning his first two starts, he bombed in the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 16 at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, but Pletcher still thinks he's going to be a contender.

"I'm very glad I was at the Fair Grounds that day," Pletcher said, "because he put in a real charge right at the end, but it was 100 yards too short and the race already was over. He has an explosive run. Hopefully, there will be somebody to run with Trust N Luck early on."

Senor Swinger has won both his starts by daylight, but today will be his first stakes race and his first race at a mile and an eighth. A well-bred son of El Prado, he's owned by Robert Ackerman and Barry Golden, trained by Mickey Goldfine, and ridden by the other El Prado, jockey Edgar.

"I've thought Senor Swinger was going to be a good horse since last November," Goldfine said, "and I really think he's just starting to improve right now. I think he's going to go a long way."

The field will be rounded out by Supah Blitz, a distant second to Trust N Luck in the Fountain of Youth; Midway Cat, who was third in the Fountain of Youth; and Formal Attire, who'll be making his first start in stakes company.

On the Florida Derby undercard, Whywhywhy, who has been removed from Kentucky Derby consideration, probably will be favored to win the $150,000 Swale Stakes against a strong field that will include Posse, First Blush, and Roaring Fever.

Native Kentuckian William F. Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 43 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 and covered Kentucky Derby 128 for kentuckyderby.com. He will be filing frequent installments for CDSN's (Churchill Downs Simulcasting Network) websites throughout 2003.

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