New tactics win Gormley the Santa Anita Derby

Rather than let Gormley be part of the pace melee in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, trainer John Shirreffs had jockey Victor Ezpinoza take back off the early pace. The end result was a visit to the winner’s circle en route to a start in next month’s Kentucky Derby.

Out of the gate, Gormley did attempt to go with the pace setters, but Gary Stevens, who was aboard stablemate Royal Mo, rushed up from the outside post to help shut Gormley down in the opening quarter. As a result, Royal Mo went up to share the lead with Battle of Midway and American Anthem while Gormley settled in the second flight of runners.

With three colts sharing the lead, the early fractions were quick. The opening quarter went in :22.66 with Battle of Midway, American Anthem, and Royal Mo kicking away to lead the rest of the field by about 5 lengths.

Midnight Pleasure, Gormley, and Iliad comprised the second flight with the rest of the field close behind them with the exception of the trailer Term of Art.

With no change in the running order up top, the first half was put up in a quick :46.55. The three-quarter split was nearly as fast, being posted in 1:10.92.

In the far turn, American Anthem began to lose ground between horses while Gormley moved up into third. Pushed wide off the far turn, Gormley was left with work to do down the center of the course. Into deep stretch, both Battle of Midway and Royal Mo proved to be stubborn foes, but Gormley continued to grind away into their lead under right-handed urging from Espinoza.

To his outside, Reach the World and Iliad were finishing well, too, but the wire came too early for that duo. Gormley snagged the win by less than a length while Battle of Midway and Royal Mo were able to hang around for second and third. Reach the World closed to get up for fourth, and Iliad was fifth.

Kimbear checked in sixth, Term of Art was seventh, and Irish Freedom, Milton Freewater, Midnight Pleasure, So Conflated, American Anthem, and Comma Sister completed the order of finish.

Winning jockey Victor Espinoza said afterwards, “He’s really quick out of the gate and today the plan was to take him back and make him run because it seemed like there was a little bit of speed in the race. I had a little bit of a hard time taking him back but all I had to do was jerk him one time, a bit harder than I wanted, and that’s all it took. He relaxed very nice.”

“Down the backside, I started laughing to myself because I knew I was in a good position and I knew all the horses in front of me were going to stop,” Espinoza continued. “He showed me he’s capable of going the distance. The only problem is his size; he’s not very big but he’s tough and that’s what I like about him. He works really hard and that’s what it takes.”

John Shirreffs, who saddled both the winner and the third place finisher, stated, “I think the key was Espinoza rating Gormley and then making his big move. This is very exciting. It’s thrilling to have a Kentucky Derby horse and it’s for the same owners (Jerry and Ann Moss) as Giacomo. Royal Mo ran really big. If he had a better post position, you wonder how he would have done.  I really wasn’t paying attention to the fractions. I just saw my horse and he got behind horses including Royal Mo.”

Off 6-1 odds, Gormley paid $14.40, $7.20, and $5.00. Seven-to-one shot Battle of Midway returned $7.80 and $5.40, and 12-1 third place finisher Royal Mo returned $7.60. The $1 exacta paid $48.00, the $1 trifecta returned $507.00, and the $0.10 superfecta was worth $209.90 with 5-2 favorite Reach the World rounding out that wager.

By Malibu Moon and out of the Bernstein mare Race to Urga, Gormley improved his career record to 6: 4-0-0 with total earnings of $920,000. Previous graded stakes wins include the Grade 1 Frontrunner and the Grade 3 Sham, the race he won prior to weakening to fourth in the San Felipe in his most recent start. Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss privately purchased the colt, who was bred by Castleton Lyons and Kilboy Estate.

“Gormley is an evolving horse,” trainer Shirreffs explained later on. “He’s very precocious and very excitable.  I just need to turn that energy of his into positive use. It’s a lot of growing pains with a talented horse. I think using the tongue tie certainly helped us today. We’ll see how this shakes out. We’ll see how he comes out of this race in the morning and if all is well, we’ll point to the Kentucky Derby.”

Jerry Hollendorfer, who sent out runner-up Battle of Midway, said, “I think he ran a pretty good race. If he didn’t get pressured so much early I think we would have won, but that’s how things go. I’m very happy with him. He’s been progressing all along, and if he can continue, he should be a contender.”

Corey Nakatani, who was aboard Battle of Midway concurred with Hollendorfer. “He ran really well. I wish we could’ve gotten a breather at some point, but it didn’t work out that way. He ran dynamite,” said Nakatani.