LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ever since born-again Christian jockey Pat Day retired from riding, religion has seldom intruded into the boisterous, cut-and-thrust, knock-down business of horse racing.
But after Super Saver plowed through the mud and gloom to win the 136th Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, God emerged front and center. In fact, He may have received more plaudits than jockey Calvin Borel — which, around here, is really saying something.
Super Saver was bred and is owned by a partnership of Kenny Troutt, a telephone service executive, and Bill Casner, who runs a heavy equipment company. They operate under the name of WinStar Farm.
Their chief claim to fame before the weekend was that they owned a piece of Victory Gallop, who won the 1988 Belmont Stakes, and bred Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby winner.
They pulled into Churchill Downs a couple of weeks ago with a Derby hand that, well, looked as if it could have been made in heaven. They had no less than four big shots at the jackpot — Rule, Endorsement, American Lion and Super Saver.
Soon, Rule fell by the wayside. Not training well. Then Endorsement, a few days before the Derby, broke down. That left them down to two.
Said Troutt, “Any time you have a chance to run four horses in the Derby and you have to take two of them out, it’s very, very hard.”
He then recalled his experience of last year, when WinStar ran three horses in the Derby.
“They all got beat and I was feeling sorry for myself and then I got to thinking how many people would like to trade places with us,” he said.
“So I kind of looked at it a different way this year — that this is just God’s way of testing us, and then if we believed and honored Him, He would give us what we deserve. I just want to thank Him for that.”
The team’s racing guru, Elliott Walden, a former trainer who prepared Victory Gallop in his campaign, was thinking the same.
He said that all Derby day he had been thinking about how close he had gone to winning the Derby. It was so much on his mind, it sent him rifling through the Bible.
“I checked it out,” he said. “In Proverbs 21:31 it says, ‘You make the horse ready for the day of battle but the victory rests with the Lord.’ ”
An important member of the WinStar team is Doug Cauthen, younger brother of famous jockey Steve Cauthen. Doug also paid tribute to the Lord above. Explaining the team’s success, he put it down to planning, investment, hard work and one other important ingredient.
“The grace of God,” he added.
Even Calvin got into the spirit of things after giving himself a little pat on the back. He said, “I never dreamed I would win three Derbies. But I’ve worked hard and I’m dedicated to this job. It’s what I love to do, and I’m very successful at it. I’m very blessed.”
He had more to thank.
“I’ve got a wonderful wife, a good agent [Jerry Kissam], good family in my life and I’m very blessed, very blessed.”
If you were looking for it, you could see God’s generous hand all over the place at the Downs on Saturday. For example, our former Post colleague Tommy (The Bomb) Valledolmo, e-mailed all his friends Friday to get down on Super Saver.
Consider Glen Fullerton, the 40-year-old Texan, who won a sweepstakes that entitled him to bet $100,000 on any horse in the Derby. He opted for Super Saver. He collected $900,000. That’s a lot of blessing, if you ask me.
Then the track itself. Despite the lousy weather, a huge reported crowd of 155,000 went through the turnstiles, exceeding last year’s turnout. Betting on the Derby from all on-track and off-track sites hit $112.7 million, an impressive 7.8 percent jump over last year — another indication the economy might be on the move.
Finally, who was blessed more than trainer Todd Pletcher, who finally got his Derby winner after going to purgatory and back all week with the defection of Eskenedeyra and the scratching of Rule?
Pletcher never wears his emotions on his sleeve. The nearest he got to philosophically explaining his good fortune Saturday was, “A lot of times things work out for a reason. Sometimes things just work out.”
POSTSCRIPT: It was suggested here a week ago that this Derby could be dominated by the four old masters of the game, and that’s how it worked out.
Pletcher won the Derby, Nick Zito was second with Ice Box, Bob Baffert was sixth with Lookin at Lucky after a hit job, and Wayne Lukas was seventh with Dublin.