Party just getting started for Derby winner

Sunday, May 4, 2014

It was a great Kentucky Derby.

A beautiful, sunny day, albeit a little windy, helped with the atmosphere that is rich in tradition and history, and it became just a little more unique with a resounding victory by favored California Chrome, who was much the best Saturday.

When the field of 19 turned for home, it wasn’t so much a question of whether he was going to win, but by how much.

He won so easily that jockey Victor Espinoza took a look over his shoulder with about 30 yards to go, realized no one was going to catch him and stood up in the irons before the finish line.

When it is published that California Chrome won in just more than 2:03, realize that he could have won by a much faster time but Espinoza wasn’t going to punish his mount after a great run, and he just had to celebrate a little too soon.

California Chrome was never farther back than third, and at the head of the stretch, where truth defines champions, he eased in front of all the others and kept distancing himself from this year’s class of 3-year-olds.

A large crowd of racing fans cheered loudly in Little Rock at an annual Derby party. Many, including John and Melissa Riddle, Tom and Melissa Meziere, Steve Twaddle, and Tracy and David Whitt, were among the partiers encouraging their picks at Mark Rogers’ annual party that went from quiet at the start to an outrageous uproar during the race. Monica Timpani also picked the winner for the second consecutive year.

The Derby is about friends and fun and mint juleps - those nasty little drinks that include sugar, bourbon, water and mint - which were in abundance in Louisville and Little Rock. Ladies’ hats have become almost as much of a story as the nasty little drinks.

Kentucky Derby parties before, during and after are almost as competitive as the race itself in Kentucky. Athletes and movie stars are treated to red carpet treatment, but the stars of the Derby have always been the horses. It started that way in 1875 when the first Kentucky Derby was run and will never change.

It has been run every year since then and has become the most desired race to win in the world by jockeys, trainers and owners.

There have been numerous stories over the years, none greater than in 1973 when Secretariat ran the fastest race in history in 1:59.40, and the most amazing feat was he ran each quarter faster than the previous.

This year there were plenty of stories leading up to post time.

Vicar’s in Trouble was too small.

Dance With Fate was a great value.

None of that mattered. California Chrome was the best story and the best horse on the first Saturday in May. Skeptics groused that he had never run east of the Mississippi, which seems to upset Easterners more than the rest of the world.

He also was the most experienced horse in the field, having run 10 times, which is like the old days before inbreeding began to steal strength and stamina from thoroughbreds.

Of course, Steve Asmussen, who has been accused by PETA of mistreating the horses he trains, was under the microscope, but even NBC cut away from all the sidebars and human interest stories when the horses entered the starting gate.

That was when it was time to shine for California Chrome, who has a real shot at winning the Triple Crown because he’s not inbred and he’s just a great thoroughbred trained by a horseman, Art Sherman, who was an exercise rider on Swaps in 1956, which was the last time he came to the Derby before Saturday.

The greatest two minutes in sports was indeed that Saturday, and from coast to coast the world witnessed a great horse winning the greatest race.

Sports, Pages 25 on 05/04/2014