Craig Dollase : Derby History
Craig, 34, is the son of veteran California trainer Wally Dollase. Like his father, he is based in southern California, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Originally an assistant to Wally, he went out on his own in 1997, winning with his very first starter at Hollywood Park. The following year, he was leading trainer at the same track's summer meet. While Wilko would be his first Derby starter, he has tasted success at Churchill Downs, winning the 1998 Breeders' Cup Sprint (GI) with Reraise, and in the process becoming the youngest trainer, at 27, to ever win a Breeders' Cup race. Other top stake horses he has trained include Elloluv, Swept Overboard, Futural, and Momentum.
Corey Nakatani : Derby History
Nakatani, 34, is a native of Covina, California. 2004 saw his mounts earn over $12.4 million, good for seventh nationally. He was introduced to racing at age 16 by his father, who was a Japanese-American born in a WWII internment camp and spent time at Santa Anita when it was a relocation camp. Corey began galloping and breaking horses for the legendary Johnny Longden, and began riding in 1988 at Caliente Racetrack, moving to Southern California the next year. He has been a fixture on the southern California circuit since, winning riding titles at Santa Anita, Hollywood, Del Mar and Oak Tree. While he hasn't won the Derby in his ten tries, he has won the Kentucky Oaks twice: 1991 on Lite Light and 1996 on Pike Place Dancer, and teamed up with Dollase to win the 1998 Breeders' Cup Sprint with Reraise. He is married to Craig Dollase's sister Michelle.
J. Paul Reddam & Susan Roy : Derby History
Susan Roy and her husband Paul have owned horses since 1997. Residents of Ascot, England, they have about 20 horses in training split between their home country and the United States. They own the recently retired Sarava, who won the 2002 Belmont Stakes (GI) at better than 70-1. J. Reddam bought 75% of Wilko from the couple in October, 2004. Reddam, a native of Ontario, Canada, has had much success since he became involved with racing in the '80's. His filly Elloluv has earned over $1 million, finishing second in the 2003 Breeders' Cup Distaff (GI); Traver's (GI) winner Ten Most Wanted was one of the favorites for Derby 129; and he has a 2005 Kentucky Oaks (GI) contender in Sharp Lisa. Reddam currently lives in Laguna Beach, CA and is the President of Cash Call, a consumer loan company.
Rosendo Parra (KY)
Parra was born in Ecuador in 1959, and currently lives in Austin, Texas. Parra came to the Unites States 30 years ago, graduation from the University of Maryland in 1982. He is the senior vice president and general manager of Dell Computers and has been with the company since 1993. He claimed his first horse for $5,000 in 1999 at Retama Park. That same year he bought Millennium Farms in Kentucky, the home to stallions Millennium Wind, Sultry Song, and Scrimshaw. He also owns about 150 broodmares located in various parts of the country. His racing stable of 60 horses is similarly dispersed among five or six trainers.
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Wilko raced 10 times in England last year between May 3rd and September 25; he was trained by Jeremy Noseda the entire time. All of his races were at a mile or under on the turf; he finished worse than third only twice in those races, but also won only two times. He tried graded stakes company four times, compiling an 0-1-2 record.
Recent Workouts
Date
Track
Distance
Time
Rank
4.30
Hollywood Park (fast)
5 furlongs
:59.80 H
5/63/td>
4.25
Hollywood Park (fast)
7 furlongs
1:26.80 H
3/4
4.19
Hollywood Park (fast)
5 furlongs
:59.80 H
2/32
4.01
Hollywood Park (fast)
6 furlongs
1:10.60 H
1/9
The most experienced member of the Derby 131 cast is also its most experienced traveler. John Paul Reddam and Susan Roy's son of 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) winner Awesome Again raced in England at two, chasing the likes of Shamardal and Dubawi, before he shipped to the U.S. to upset Afleet Alex and Sun King in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI). Former trainer Jeremy Noseda turned the reins over to Craig Dollase after that triumph and, although Wilko has not won since, he overcame foot problems this spring to run a fast-closing third in the Santa Anita Derby. Jockey Corey Nakatani, Dollase and the owners are seeking their first Derby victories with Wilko, who also seeks to become the first winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to win the Kentucky Derby.
Wilko is by the Adena Springs stallion Awesome Again, a Breeders' Cup Classic winner who finished among the top three leading first-crop sires in 2002 by virtue of throwing a pair of stakes winners (Toccet and Awesome Of Course - winner of the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs) in addition to the stakes-placed runner Echeverria. However, his best year has been 2004, as his son Ghostzapper won the Breeders' Cup Classic and is a leading Horse of the Year candidate. His three crops of two-year-olds have won an impressive 19% of their races. Awesome Again is by the top-class sire Deputy Minister, who has thrown the champions Open Mind, Go For Wand, Dehere, Diva's Debut, Hello Seattle, Eloquent Minister and the additional Grade I stakes winners Touch Gold, Deputy Commander, Keeper Hill and Salt Lake, among others. Wilko has gotten his dam of to a great start as a producer; he is her only foal to date. She did race in the States as a two-year-old, but went winless in three starts. She is a daughter of Indian Ridge, sire of Breeders Cup Mile winners Ridgewood Pearl and Domedriver, and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Indian Haven. He became the 200th chef-de-race in June 2003. Representative of the Byerly Turk male line.She comes from an Irish mare, Phazania, whose offspring have raced primarily in the United Kingdom. Her first foal, Il Carravagio, was stakes placed in Italy during his juvenile campaign. Wilko's 7.00 Dosage does not bode well for his ability to get the Derby distance, but neither his sire and paternal grandsire, Deputy Minister, have yet to be awarded a chef-de-race classification. The likelihood of this occurrence is high, and would most probably result in lowering Wilko's Dosage substantially, possibly below the theoretical 4.00 threshold it takes to win the Derby. Strike the Gold, the 1991 Derby winner, had a Dosage of 9.00 when he won the race, but it was later lowered to 2.60 when his sire, Alydar, was named a chef-de-race.
Dosage Index: 7.00.
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