Zito's five starters all finish out of the money
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Going 0 for 5 in a game is a bad day for a baseball player. Going 0 for 5 in a race is a devastating day for a trainer.
Nick Zito, who had been the toast of the town, saddled five horses in yesterday's Kentucky Derby at
"It's disappointing," he said. "It looked pretty good turning for home with High Fly [who had the lead after going a mile, but faded to 10th], and Bellamy Road [second after a mile], but it didn't happen for us today. You look at the horses everyone was talking about, and only Afleet Alex ran well. We'll have something for the Preakness, but I don't know who just yet.
"I don't really know what happened. It's racing, and you just keep trying. You just have to salute the winners. It just shows you what a great game this is. It's a tough game.
"I was surprised by the outcome. I thought our horses were prepared well. I really don't know what to say except that we'll regroup, and I hope my horses are OK."
Neither Javier Castellano, who rode Bellamy Road, nor Jerry Bailey, who rode High Fly, made an excuse.
"He seemed to handle the track well, but he just didn't have it today," said Castellano.
"By the time we turned for home, I had inched my way between horses, and made the lead," said Bailey. "He was giving me the same feeling he did at Gulfstream [when he won the Florida Derby]. Then, they swamped me so bad, I didn't know where he finished."
Afleet Alex's all
As Zito pointed out, Afleet Alex, the second choice at 9-2, ran the best of the horses who were supposed to be contenders, finishing third, beaten by a length.
"He ran his butt off," said his jockey, Jeremy Rose. "I was screaming and hollering for him to make it. You can feel when a horse is giving everything he has. He just had nothing left. That's the first time I've seen a horse come up outside me that we couldn't get by."
Afleet Alex's trainer, Tim Ritchey, was gracious in defeat.
"We ran third, and got beat by two horses who ran better races," he said. "The entire country now has an awarenss of Alex's Lemonade Stand [a charity that raises funds for cancer research], and that's a great thing.
"Jeremy said he ran his race, and I thought we had it for a little while. I thought we had a heck of a shot at the eighth-pole. Now, it's on to Pimlico."
Closing well
Closing Argument, who had been a distant third in the Blue Grass, ran a dynamite race at 71-1 under Cornelio Velasquez. He put away Afleet Alex in the late yards, but just failed to hold Giacomo.
"I had a lot of horse," said Velasquez. "He tried very hard. He's a very good horse, and he was in perfect condition. He ran a big race."
"He ran great," said Kiaran McLaughlin, who trains Closing Argument. "It was the thrill of a lifetime for an eighth of a mile. He's one heck of a horse who might now start getting some respect."
0 for Fletcher
Zito wasn't the only one who took the collar as 2004 Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher went 0 for 3, with a ninth by Flower Alley his highest finish. "It seemed Bandini [19th as the 6-1 third pick] was fighting the dirt," said Pletcher. "The other two [including Coin Silver, 12th], ran respectably. We'll regroup and come back next year." . . . Holy Bull, the sire of Giacomo, ran 12th as the 2-1 favorite in the 1994 Derby, a race won by Zito's Go For Gin. "I told [trainer] John [Shirreffs] all week that Giacomo was going to make up for what happened to his father," said jockey Mike Smith . . . Smith's victory came on his 12th try. He finished second on Lion Heart last year, Proud Citizen in 2002, and Prairie Bayou in 1993, and was third aboard Cat Thief in 1999 . . . The $102.60 payoff on Giacomo was the second highest in Derby history, surpassed only by the $184.90 returned by Donerail in 1913. The attendance of 156,435 on a Garden of Eden day, was also second best, to the 163,628 in 1974 . . . The purse of $2,399,600, with $1,639,600 going to the winner, was the highest in Derby history.
