Bob Holthus : Derby History
Holthus, 70 and a Nebraska native, has been training horses for more than a half century. He is the all-time winningest trainer at Oaklawn, taking nine training titles there. In 2000, he was inducted to the Arkansas Hall of Fame. Also won training titles at Arlington, Ellis Park, and Hawthorne. He has started three horses in the Derby: Our Trade Winds (13th in 1972); Proper Reality (4th in '88); and Pro Prado (13th in '04). Bob and his wife Bonnie split their time on their Kilkerry Farm just west of Hot Springs at Royal, Arkansas and in Louisville.
John McKee : Derby History
Before McKee, 23, became one of the one country's top young jockeys, he was delivering pizza in his hometown of Hamersville, Ohio, near Cincinnati. McKee rode his first winner May 27, 2002, at River Downs and won the riding title there, smashing Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen's record for victories by an apprentice. McKee has the same jockey agent, Eddie Campbell, as Cauthen did when he started riding. McKee won riding titles at Oaklawn and Churchill Downs last year. In 2004, he ranked 28th nationally in victories (210) and 29th in earnings ($6 million). He also has been leading rider at River Downs. He rides first call for Holthus. This will be his second Derby mount; he finished 13th on Pro Prado in 2004.
Lewis Lakin
Lewis Lakin bred Greater Good in the name of A. Lakin and Sons. Lakin General, LLC, is a major rubber and tire recycling company. Involved in Thoroughbred racing since 1990, the Lakins have raced graded runners including Buffalo Berry, Listen Here and No Kings. Lakin and business partner Becky Thomas are rank near the top of the nation's pinhookers. The two and Lakin's wife, Brenda, own farms in Florida, Kentucky, and New York, on which they have about 150 broodmares. In addition, they stand several stallions at their New York operation. Lakin and Thomas also bred this year's Whirlaway stakes winner Sort It Out, who was recently sold to Stonerside Stable and trainer Bob Baffert.
A. Lakin & Sons, Inc. (KY)
Lewis Lakin bred Greater Good in the name of A. Lakin and Sons. Lakin General, LLC, is a major rubber and tire recycling company. Involved in Thoroughbred racing since 1990, the Lakins have raced graded runners including Buffalo Berry, Listen Here and No Kings. Lakin and business partner Becky Thomas are rank near the top of the nation's pinhookers. The two and Lakin's wife, Brenda, own farms in Florida, Kentucky, and New York, on which they have about 150 broodmares. In addition, they stand several stallions at their New York operation. Lakin and Thomas also bred this year's Whirlaway stakes winner Sort It Out, who was recently sold to Stonerside Stable and trainer Bob Baffert.
05.06.05 - Spanish Chestnut Due In Saturday Morning 05.01.05 - Sunday Barn Notes 04.30.05 - Saturday Barn Notes 04.29.05 - Friday Barn Notes 04.28.05 - Thursday Barn Notes 04.20.05 - Holthus Ready For Derby 131 Shot With Greater Good 04.16.05 - Afleet Alex Bounces Back In A Big Way 03.21.05 - Greater Good Runs Down Rockport Harbor 03.19.05 - Greater Good Scores His Third Straight 02.19.05 - Greater Good Overcomes Slow Start, Short Stretch To Take Southwest Stakes 02.18.05 - Greater Good Favored In '05 Debut In Oaklawn's Southwest
A stretch-running son of Intidab, the homebred Greater Good is the first Kentucky Derby starter for his owner Lewis Lakin and the fourth for his veteran trainer, Robert Holthus. He stamped himself as a Derby contender last fall with a win in the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) at Churchill Downs and solidified that status with a win over Rockport Harbor and Derby 131 rival Afleet Alex in the Rebel at Oaklawn. He comes into the Derby off a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Arkansas Derby. Jockey John McKee, the leading jockey in the 2005 Fall Meet at Churchill Downs, will ride in his second consecutive "Run for the Roses."
Greater Good hails from the first crop of the sprinter Intidab, a stakes winner of 7 races of $531,221 USA in England, N.A. and the United Arab Emirates. His biggest wins came in the A Phenomenon Handicap (GII) and True North Handicap (GII). From a limited crop of 12 foals his first year, he had four winners, a fairly impressive stat. He hails from a sprinters pedigree as well, being a son of Phone Trick, who sired horse of the year Favorite Trick, who found the Derby distance too far for his taste, but was very good up to a mile or so. There are some classic distance influences on Intidab's female side, via Native Dancer and Nashua, but they are traced back through Mr. Prospector, another known sprint sire who did get a Derby winner in Fusaichi Pegasus late in his stud career.
Greater Good also has plenty of speed influences on his dam's side. Gather The Clan, an Irish bred mare, has had six winners from her nine foals to race, with Greater Good the only stakes winner of the group. Gather The Clan won the grade three Violet Handicap at four, and earned $232,748 in her 26 race career. She is out of What A Summer, the champion U.S. sprinter in 1977 at age five, who won Aqueduct's Fall Highweight (GII) facing males, twice in her career. She also won the two-turn Black Eyed Susan (GII) at three, so she was not a one-dimensional horse.
Greater Good's distance capability may be tied to his dam's sire, General Assembly, a son of Secretariat. General Assembly ran second in the 1979 Kentucky Derby and won the Traver's (GI) the same year. He also set a ten furlong track record of 2:00 flat at Saratoga.
Dosage index: 4.00
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