Six months ago, Barry Irwin asked to be my friend on Facebook. I sat looking at the invite for all of two seconds before clicking Confirm. Since then, we’ve posted on each other’s racing notes, seen pictures of each other’s families, and sent a few emails back and forth about this and that.
When he won the Vinery Spiral at Turfway, I was sitting on my living room couch and said “horses don’t do what he just did – not at Turfway, not at all. That’s your Derby winner.” To be fair, I’ve said that three times this prep season: The Factor, Animal Kingdom, and Archarcharch. After the race, I posted a congratulations on Barry’s wall and he responded “Thanks! We took the easy route to the Derby.”
Given how the colt had trained at Churchill in the fall before he broke his maiden, dirt was never going to be a problem. All you have to do is look at the GradeOneRacing workout reports to know that surface was merely a means to an end – this son of Leroidesanimaux just wants to run.
Earlier this week, I shared with Barry and several other owners of Derby contenders that I had filmed their workouts, jogs, and gallops over the Churchill strip. Taking me up on an offer, a 1 minute, 43 second clip was posted May 2nd on a website that only Barry (and whomever he shared it with) could see. Now that the horse has fulfilled his superstar status, I think I can share it with everyone.
It was obvious that if the colt who worked on April 30th showed up under the Spires on May 7th, the world was in for a treat. And indeed we were as the chestnut with a star and no feet took the lead mid-stretch and crossed the wire with ears pricked. Here was a horse who bucked the trends of having never raced on dirt, having won his last on a synthetic track, having six weeks between starts; and who lost his jockey much the way his jockey lost his original mount.
The irony of it all was watching Animal Kingdom walk to the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle in the infield: you have to cross the turf course to get there. I think Barry will be getting a bigger congratulations note from me this time ‘round.
What a horse. What a win.
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Photo courtesy of KentuckyDerby.com
