Trainers Seek that Elusive Kentucky Derby Victory

 

The Kentucky Derby is the race that all trainers want to win and very few, only one a year, ever succeed. Thus, it raises the question: Who is the best active trainer who has not won the Kentucky Derby?

 

It can happen at any point in a trainer’s career. Charlie Whittingham was the oldest to win the roses at the age of 76 with his second winner, Sunday Silence in 1989, and 24 year-old James Rowe Sr. was the youngest in 1881 with Hindoo. Johnny Longden trained Majestic Prince to victory in 1969 after having won the Derby as a jockey in 1943 with the great Count Fleet.

 

Here is a chart [based on Equibase statistics as of March 18, 2014] of the leading active trainers by career earnings to use as a reference tool. Some are already Derby winners, and surprisingly some are not. Clearly these top earning trainers have been working with better quality horses at the most competitive tracks. There are also trainers who rank highly in number of wins but have never had a Derby horse because they work at lower echelon tracks.

 

Winning the Kentucky Derby is no easy task. Todd Pletcher has only one win in 35 tries. Five of those top-earning trainers are not only winless on the first Saturday in May but they have not cracked the top three in the Derby with a combined record of 31: 0-0-0. That is how hard it is to win America’s most coveted race.

 

Steve Asmussen saddled his first Derby horse in 2001 and he has had a total of 12 runners. Curlin, who finished third in 2007 as the 5-1 second choice, was his most famous Derby horse. Nehro got Asmussen a second place finish at 8.5-1 behind Animal Kingdom in 2011. Could Tapiture give Asmussen his first taste of the Roses in 2014?

 

It looked like this might be the year for Hall of Fame trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, but the 2013 juvenile champion Shared Belief is off the Derby Trail. The Golden Gate Fields based trainer has had five Derby runners since 2003 with a fifth place being his best finish. Hollendorfer did win this year’s El Camino Real Derby, on a synthetic surface, with Tamarando.

 

Larry Jones, who has won many big races in recent years, has had good luck in his only three Derby starts. He had back-to-back second place finishes in 2007 with Hard Spun and in 2008 with the ill-fated filly Eight Belles. In 2009 his Derby favorite Friesan Fire finished a distant 18^th. Jones has Albano on this year’s Louisiana road to the Kentucky Derby, so he has a shot to get off the Derby schneid.

 

Michael Maker has had five Derby runners since 2010 with double entries in that first year and in 2011. Remember in 2012 he was part of the flamboyant Team Hansen. This year, Maker has General a Rod, who finished second in the Fountain of Youth.

 

Kiaran McLaughlin may be poised to get out of this 0-fer club with Cairo Prince. Cairo Prince sits atop many people’s Derby lists after his impressive win in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. McLaughlin has started five horses in the Derby and his first two runners have been his best. In 2005 the 75-1 shot Closing Argument got McLaughlin within a half-length of a Derby win in his first attempt. 50-1 shot Giacomo caught Closing Argument in the final 70 yards to trigger a $9,814 exacta. The following year Jazil finished in a dead-heat for fourth.

 

Kenny McPeek also got a second place finish in his first Kentucky Derby. In 1995 Tejano Run finished behind the winner, Thunder Gulch. Since then McPeek has had five other starters including Frac Daddy (16^th) and Java’s War (13^th) in last year’s Run for the Roses.

 

Bill Mott’s patient training style makes it hard for his younger horses to be ready for the first Saturday in May. Still Mott has had seven Derby starts over the years with an eighth place finish by Favorite Trick in 1998 as his best.

 

European based Aidan O'Brien, who has had so much success in the Breeders’ Cup, has become a presence in the Kentucky Derby, too. O’Brien has had five starters including one in each of the past three Derbies. His most famous runner Johannesburg finished eighth in 2002. Master of Hounds got fifth place in 2011.

 

Dale Romans has done quite well with his four Derby runners since 2006. He has two show finishes from Paddy O’ Prado in 2010 and Dullahan in 2012. It is hard to believe that Shackleford was 23-1 when he came in fourth in 2011.

 

Great trainers with great horses have failed to win the Run for the Roses. Hall of Famers have tried and been unsuccessful. Jimmy Croll couldn’t win it with Bet Twice in 1987 and Holy Bull in 1994. Bobby Frankel ran in the Derby eight times including Medaglia d’Oro in 2002 and Empire Maker in 2003. Elliot Burch finished second twice with Sword Dancer in 1959 and Arts and Letters in 1969.