Start Spreadin' The News, New York Hero's On The Derby Scene
By: William F. Reed

FLORENCE, Ky. (Mar. 22, 2003) - Start spreading the news. Shout it from the top of the Empire State Building and in front of every theater on Broadway. The 129th Kentucky Derby now has a contender who's trained by a charming Long Island, N.Y. woman and named after the cops and firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center.

Let's hear it for New York Hero.

The colt lived up to his name in the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes on Saturday, Mar. 22, holding off Eugene's Third Son for a neck victory at Turfway Park. It was easily the most important triumph in the short careers of trainer Jennifer Pedersen and jockey Norberto Arroyo, Jr.

"He's powerful and good-looking, like a New York hero should be," Pedersen said. "He has improved dramatically. I thought he had a really good chance to win this race."

So now it's back to New York for the Wood Memorial on Apr. 12 at Aqueduct, which is located near Kennedy airport. Because of his name, New York Hero will attract much support from the betting public.

The Wood will be a triumphant homecoming for the 40-year-old Pedersen, a working mother of a daughter, 11, and a son, 6. She quit school to go on the racetrack at 16, where she learned the ropes by watching the likes of Bobby Frankel, Nick Zito, Johnny Campo, Allen Jerkins and other prominent New York trainers.

She finally got a break in the mid-1990s when Ernie Paragallo hired her to manage his farm in upstate New York.

An investment banker and computer software executive who plunged into racing in 1991, Paragallo hit the jackpot with Unbridled's Song, winner of the 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile who went on to capture the Florida Derby and the Wood as a 3-year-old before finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby.

His other standout horses have been Artax, the nation's best sprinter in 1999, and Adonis, who won that year's Wood Memorial.

Paragallo became so impressed with Pedersen's work ethic and positive attitude that he made her head trainer for his Paraneck Stable in 2001. She immediately won the Lafayette Stakes at Keeneland with Griffinite, whom she calls a "bad boy." She also won the 2001 City of Hialeah Stakes with Devilish Erica.

Her most formidable opponent in the Wood figures to be the Frankel-trained Empire Maker, who won the Mar. 15 Florida Derby by a whopping 9 3/4 lengths. But when Empire Maker was mentioned yesterday, she only smiled and said: "Bring it on, baby."

A Maryland-bred son of Partner's Hero, out of the mare Nin Two, New York Hero didn't race as a 2-year-old. On Jan. 31, he notched his first victory in his second start of 2003, but then had a first and a second in his next two starts, all of which have been on the inner track at Aqueduct.

Pedersen wanted him to run in the Mar. 16 Gotham, but scratched him when he drew post 12. She then went to Plan B, the Lane's End at Turfway, even though he didn't really seem to belong in the same race with the likes of Champali, who had won six of his seven career starts at Kentucky tracks; Eugene's Third Son, who impressed jockey Pat Day enough that Day opted to ride him instead of Champali; and Lion Tamer, whose three wins in four career starts included a six-length romp in the Hutcheson Stakes on Feb. 15 at Gulfstream Park.

The colt's jockey, Arroyo, wasn't available to ride him earlier in the year because he was in jail on charges that he whacked three men with a pool cue, one of whom underwent surgery for a brain hemmorage.

On a breezy day at Turfway, Arroyo managed to barely withstand the challenge of Day, the Hall of Fame jockey who rode Eugene's Third Son for trainer Patrick Byrne. The time for the 1 1/8-mile race was a slow 1:50.68, but Pedersen didn't care. It was enough that she was taking New York Hero back home for the Wood Memorial.

A victory there would put her in position to become the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. Instead of downplaying that potential milestone, Pedersen relishes the opportunity.

"I wake up with that exact thought every day," she said. "That's a big deal to me. I want to tell the guys to move over and make room. If we get a chance, we're as good as they are. It's important to me to break down those barriers."

None of this serious stuff registered with jockey Arroyo. All he knew was that he was heading to the Kentucky Derby in only his third professional year, which makes him more lucky than the young men and women who are still in New York, searching futility for their dreams.

"I've got a shot," he said. "That's all I can ask at my age. He's a very competitive horse. Hopefully, he'll go to the Derby and be a tough horse in the Derby."

Which would make him a New York Hero, indeed.

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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