Words, Not Deeds, Get This Horse in Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mike Battaglia, who has been making the morning line for the Kentucky Derby and other races at Churchill Downs for about 20 years, sounded apologetic.

“Deeds Not Words, 50-1,” he said at Wednesday night’s post-position draw for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. “And yes, this is the first time I’ve ever made a Wayne Lukas horse 50-1.”

Deeds Not Words, the gray colt who has enabled Lukas to perpetuate one of the Derby’s most unassailable records, will probably be more like 100-1 by the time Churchill Downs runs the Derby for the 123rd time. He is what the handicappers refer to as a throw-out, a horse with no chance. His only function in this Derby is to give Lukas at least one starter for an unprecedented 17th consecutive year. Should Deeds Not Words somehow win, giving Lukas his third straight Derby victory and fourth overall, it would rank as one of the biggest upsets in the Run for the Roses.

Lukas, who has won seven of the last eight Triple Crown races, insists that Deeds Not Words belongs in the Derby. On Tuesday, however, the trainer had said that since the filly Sharp Cat, his best 3-year-old, would run in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks at the request of the owner, there would be no Lukas colt running in this year’s Derby.

In the day’s remaining hours, that changed. Michael Tabor, who races Deeds Not Words in a partnership with John and Susan Magnier, notified Churchill Downs late Tuesday that he needed Derby tickets because his colt was running. In Tabor, Lukas has the most pliable of owners; in 1995, another Tabor colt, Thunder Gulch, dropped in on the Derby and won the race at 24-1. Owners have caught Derby Fever from much less.

But the difference between Thunder Gulch and Deeds Not Words is that Thunder Gulch had some pre-Derby credentials: He was overlooked in the mutuels even though he had been a stakes winner as a 2-year-old and had won the Florida Derby at 3.

Deeds Not Words, a $340,000 auction purchase as an unraced 2-year-old, hasn’t won since his first start at Del Mar last August. Eleven days later, he ran in the Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, finishing third and suffering a stress fracture of his right hind leg. He missed about four months of training and didn’t run again until March 29. In two races this year, he has been fourth in the Gotham at Aqueduct and third, beaten by 11 1/2 lengths, in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 20. The trainers of the horses that finished well ahead of Deeds Not Words in the Lexington--Touch Gold and Smoke Glacken--chose not to run in the Derby.

Lukas stood in a tent on the Churchill Downs backside Wednesday morning and worked overtime at spin control. There were few takers among the media.

“I’ve always liked this horse,” he said of Deeds Not Words. “He has great ability. He didn’t like the track in New York or the track at Keeneland. But I feel that he likes the track here. In my 16 or 17 years of Derby experience, I’ve found that horses either have an affinity for Churchill Downs or they don’t, and I feel that this horse does. There have been a number of horses--Sea Hero [the 1993 Derby winner] and Thunder Gulch were two--who didn’t do well at Keeneland and then won at Churchill Downs. I’m not running this horse just to have a horse in the Derby. There have been some defections and there’s a gray area about many of the horses that are left in the Derby.”

On the contrary, most handicappers have labeled this Derby one of the most competitive in years and give at least seven of the 13 horses a good chance of winning. When the draw was held Wednesday, the lineup came out this way, in post-position order with jockeys and odds:

Crypto Star, Pat Day, 10-1; Phantom On Tour, Jerry Bailey, 12-1; Concerto, Carlos Marquez, 8-1; Captain Bodgit, Alex Solis, 5-2; Silver Charm, Gary Stevens, 5-1; Celtic Warrior, Francisco Torres, 50-1; Pulpit, Shane Sellers, 2-1; Hello, Mike Smith, 12-1; Jack Flash, Craig Perret, 30-1; Shammy Davis, Willie Martinez, 30-1; Deeds Not Words, Corey Nakatani, 50-1; Crimson Classic, Robby Albarado, 50-1; and Free House, David Flores, 8-1.

Jack Flash and Shammy Davis, both trained by Nick Zito, will be coupled in the betting. All of the horses will carry 126 pounds.

Lukas, who started a record five horses here last year, has started 31 overall, another Derby record. Grindstone won for him last year, and his filly Winning Colors was the Derby winner in 1988.

This year, Lukas nominated 23 horses for the Triple Crown races--the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes--after spending about $20 million of his clients’ money to acquire a crop of prospects that numbered more than 50 colts and about 30 fillies. Tabor, hoping to duplicate his luck with Thunder Gulch, bought Just A Cat, a stakes winner last year, for $2 million in November, but in January, before he had run a race for Lukas, the colt broke down at Santa Anita and has been retired.

Boston Harbor, the champion 2-year-old male last year, was injured after running once this year and will miss the Triple Crown. The horses that stayed sound failed to show enough in prep races around the country to propel them into the Derby. Even the brilliant filly, Sharp Cat, was a disappointing sixth in the Santa Anita Derby.

A few weeks ago, Lukas started looking around, hoping to buy a prepackaged Derby candidate. A bid to buy Concerto, a colt owned by George Steinbrenner, fell through. Crypto Star’s owners, having won the Arkansas Derby, turned down offers from Lukas and other parties that reached $3 million.

The irony to this Derby is that Silver Charm, second to Free House in the Santa Anita Derby and the probable third choice Saturday, races for Robert and Beverly Lewis, who are among Lukas’ biggest clients. With Lukas recommending most of the purchases, the Lewises were major buyers at sales the last two years.

Silver Charm, who cost the Lewises $85,000, is trained by Baffert, who found the horse at a Florida sale of 2-year-olds. Several years ago, Baffert picked out the first horse the Lewises bought and he continues to train a few horses for them, while most of their stock goes to Lukas.

Asked the other day how it feels to win a Derby with clients who are more identified with Lukas, Baffert diplomatically said: “Wayne’s been very good about this whole thing. He’s taking this in stride.”

Maybe he is. But the fact that Wayne Lukas is starting a 50-1 shot in this Derby shows that he’s several giant steps behind the opposition.

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Kentucky Derby at a Glance

* Where: Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

* When: Saturday, 2:30 PDT

* Television: Channel 7

POST POSITIONS FOR 123RD DERBY

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PP Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1. Crypto Star Pat Day Wayne Catalano 10-1 2. Phantom On Tour Jerry Bailey Lynn Whiting 12-1 3. Concerto Carlos Marquez John Tammaro III 8-1 4. Captain Bodgit Alex Solis Gary Capuano 5-2 5. Silver Charm Gary Stevens Bob Baffert 5-1 6. Celtic Warrior Francisco Torres Danny Hutt 50-1 7. Pulpit Shane Sellers Frank Brothers 2-1 8. Hello Mike Smith Ron McAnally 12-1 9. a-Jack Flash Craig Perret Nick Zito 30-1 10. a-Shammy Davis Willie Martinez Nick Zito 30-1 11. Deeds Not Words Corey Nakatani Wayne Lukas 50-1 12. Crimson Classic Robby Albarado Forrest Kaelin 50-1 13. Free House David Flores Paco Gonzalez 8-1

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