Pulling Off The Oaks-Derby Double Is A Feat Rarely Accomplished
By: William F. Reed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2003) - The last time an owner, trainer and jockey won both the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby the same weekend was 1952, when Calumet Farm, trainer Ben A. "Plain Ben" Jones, and jockey Eddie Arcaro took the Oaks with Real Delight and the Derby with Hill Gail.

Since then, no owners or trainers have pulled off the Oaks-Derby double on the same weekend, and only two jockeys have accomplished the feat.

In 1966, Don Brumfield won the Oaks with Native Street, owned by Aisco Stable and trained by Les Lear, and the Derby with Kauai King, owned by Mike Ford and trained by Henry Forrest.

And in 1993, Jerry Bailey captured the Oaks with Dispute, owned by Ogden Mills Phipps and trained by Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey, and the Derby with Sea Hero, owned by Paul Mellon's Rokeby Stable and trained by Mack Miller.

Last year trainer Ken McPeek had both the Oaks and Derby favorites with Take Charge Lady and Harlan's Holiday, respectively. But Take Charge Lady was overtaken in the final strides by Farda Amiga in the Oaks, and Harlan's Holiday never challenged War Emblem in the Derby.

So what owners, trainers, and jockeys have the best chance to get the Oaks-Derby double this year?

You have to begin with Bob and Beverly Lewis. They own Composure, who was second to the unbeaten Storm Flag Flying in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and who whipped rival Elloluv in last Sunday's Virgenes at Santa Anita.

She's so good that trainer Bob Baffert nominated her for the Derby as well as the Oaks. The other four fillies nominated for both races are My Boston Gal, Real Desire, Santa Catarina (the Lewises and Baffert), and Starlit Laughter.

But the Derby chances of both Composure and Santa Catarina could at least partly depend upon whether one of the Lewises' 10 Derby-nominated colts develops into a contender.

The 10 nominees are divided among Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas, with trainers Todd Pletcher and Thomas Bell having one each. At this point, the best of the Lewis-owned colts appears to be Scrimshaw, who'll run in the Feb. 15 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Mike Smith, who rode Composure in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies has been replaced by Bailey, who also will ride Scrimshaw in the Hutcheson for the Lewises and Lukas.

Also worthy of consideration for a dream weekend at Churchill Downs is the team of trainer McGaughey and owner Ogden Mills Phipps. They have the early Oaks favorite in Storm Flag Flying, whose regular rider is John Velasquez. In the Derby, they so far have only longshots in A Great Team, Actor, and Polish Gift.

Storm Flag Flying and Composure could be challenged in the Oaks by My Boston Gal, who's trained by Carl Nafzger and ridden by Pat Day. However, neither Nafzger nor Day has a red-hot Derby prospect right now, and My Boston Gal's owners (Chester Porter and partners) don't have anything for the Derby.

Another factor in both the Oaks and the Derby could be the team of owner John Oxley and trainers John and Donna Ward. They won the 1995 Oaks with Gal In A Ruckus and the 2001 Derby with Monarchos.

This year they have a standout Derby contender in the unbeaten Sky Mesa, who missed the Breeders' Cup Juvenile because of an injury. They also have a highly-regarded Oaks contender in Perfect Story, who won a two-turn allowance race in her first start of the year.

Both Sky Mesa and Perfect Story are ridden by Edgar Prado.

In the last 15 years, no owner has won the Oaks more than once. Among trainers, Lukas and Bobby Frankel each have won the Oaks twice in that period. The most successful jockeys have been Bailey, Day, and Corey Nakatani with two victories each.

Last year's Oaks drew a crowd of 101,923, which was second only to the Derby in terms of single-day attendance at a North American track. A total of $10,931,558 was bet on track.

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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