Kentucky Derby 2017: Bode Miller Races in with Fast and Accurate
Bode Miller: alpine ski racer, Olympic gold medalist, World Cup champion, and owner of a Kentucky Derby 2017 contender?
That’s right. America’s most accomplished male skier is now on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with Fast and Accurate. Not long after the grey colt won the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, it was announced that Bode Miller bought a share of the horse from Dr. Kendall Hansen.
Dr. Hansen has been down the Derby trail before. Back in 2009, he campaigned his homebred Tapit colt, named Hansen, to a ninth place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Hansen also happens to be the sire of Fast and Accurate. The three-year-old colt was not nominated for the Triple Crown, but after earning 50 points toward the Kentucky Derby starting gate in the Spiral, Dr. Hansen insisted on paying the $200,000 supplement to get his horse to Churchill Downs.
“Bode is a very intelligent man and a good horseman,” Hansen said. “He learned a lot about physiology from his work on the U.S. Olympic Team, and he’s relaying that knowledge to horse racing as well. He sees what we see up close [in Fast and Accurate], and he realizes we do actually have an outside chance to win, even though on paper it doesn’t exactly look that way. I remember crossing out [2009 Kentucky Derby winner] Mine That Bird, who had no chance.”
Fast and Accurate was bred by John R. Penn in Pennsylvania and was $24,000 RNA at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Dr. Hansen purchased the colt as a two-year-old for $85,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale in Spring 2016. Fast and Accurate has three wins from six starts, and has won the last three. After earning his first victory in a maiden claiming race at Turfway Park, Fast and Accurate next took the Sage of Monticello Stakes at Gulfstream Park before returning to Turfway for the Spiral. The colt has earned $340,362 under the care of trainer Mike Maker.
Fast and Accurate is predicted to be one of the longest shots in the Kentucky Derby field, but his owners’ remain confident in his chances and are excited for the challenge.
By Christine Oser