Mac’s Derby Blog – Take 1

Here the year is newer than a Christmas puppy and the man from Kentucky calls and says he already wants something on the big race for his Kentucky Derby Website. Something about getting it up and running.

But what, a fellow wonders, are you going to write about at this stage of the game? Well, comes the rejoinder, how about that fast filly Country Star, who some (Hello, Rafael) already have said is so good she’ll bypass the Kentucky Oaks and tackle the boys in the Run for the Roses?

Well, OK, maybe we can futz around with that one some. Of course, while we might be one of the first to raise the now annual Is-This-Lady-Good-Enough Derby question, we surely won’t be the last. Especially if the dark-hued daughter of bred-in-the-purple Empire Maker continues to perform in the style she has shown thus far.

Country Star, you should know, recently won Hollywood Park’s Grade I Starlet by nearly three lengths with a sweeping move and a powerful late burst. Prior to that she won the Grade I Alcibiades at Keeneland’s fall meet with a sweeping move and a nifty late kick. And in her one other start – her racing debut September 20 at Belmont Park – she came running wide and late to finish second in a straight maiden race on the grass.

(Now not to add fuel to any fires, but do any of you recall a filly of recent vintage who made a habit of running wide and late and winning stakes? What was her name….oh, Rags to Riches. She did fairly well, it is recalled. And when we get a chance, we’ll have to go back and check to see how she did running against the boys.)

Of note in Country Star’s brief career so far – besides the running style, the obvious class and the fact she’s been running against her own sex – is the fact that her trainer has chosen to run her long right from the git-go. By breeding and by disposition, the homebred (Stonerside Stable) lassie is meant to run classic distances.
And, despite the fact she has a double-quick turn of foot (note her :46.60 bullet work at Hollywood last Saturday), the man at the controls is not about to be sprinting a commodity like this.

And who is this smooth operator? Why, one Robert Frankel, of course, he of the multiple Eclipse Awards as the best trainer in the land, along with a well-deserved plaque in racing’s Hall of Fame.

Robert (you can have the Bobby if you want; Robert works fine here) has some history going in with this Kentucky-bred miss. He trained her daddy, a flashy son of Unbridled who was meant to win the Kentucky Derby but couldn’t quite get there when a touchy right front foot limited the conditioner in his conditioning, opening the door for one of racing’s great feel-good stories in Funny Cide.

As is often the case when working with equine mysteries, it can pay to handicap the trainer as well as the horse. Our man Robert is not a stick-in-the-mud type who is unwilling to try different things. He’s also a very experienced hand who knows you need to keep all options available in a game as tough as this. So if you called him up right now and asked him if he might run his filly in the Kentucky Derby against the colts (an idea you might not want to actuate), he might same something like “Well, you never want to say never.”

But, in fact, by style and class – just like his filly – Robert isn’t the kind to step into a lumberjack barroom and challenge the house. A filly capable of winning the Kentucky Oaks is mighty nice property, indeed, and you won’t see an old-schooler like Country Star’s trainer doing too much gambling with something like that.

Country Star in the Derby? The early vote here is not likely; not likely at all.
But then, that’s just an early vote, and a single one at that. There are lots of other votes out there and lots of time until they run that mile and a quarter without any water.
It’s Derby season and all are invited, ladies included.
Welcome to the ride.