Kentucky Derby: Gargan plays it both ways with 2 starters

Louisville, Ky.

For trainer Danny Gargan, who grew up five blocks from Churchill Downs, merely reaching Kentucky Derby 2024 with Dornoch and Society Man represents a tremendous victory.

He opened his stable in 2013 and oversees an operation that does not have massive numbers. He worked with only 15 or so 2-year-olds last season. Only five of his colts were not New York-breds. He bought two colts at Keeneland’s September yearling sale. Both are in the Derby.

No matter the outcome, Gargan exults in his homecoming, knowing numbers were not on his side. “It’s a very big accomplishment,” he said.

It helps, too, that his two starters possess styles that will keep them out of each other’s way. Dornoch is a two-time Grade 2 winner after fighting back to edge Sierra Leone in the Dec. 2 Remsen and rolling on the front end in a depleted field in the March 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. Even before he drew the Derby rail for regular rider Luis Saez, it was clear he would use his natural high cruising speed to be on or near the lead. An attempt to rate Dornoch contributed to a disappointing fourth-place effort in the April 6 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.

“We’re going to have to break running to get up in there,” said Gargan, 52. “If somebody is super fast and slingshots in front of us, so be it.”

That could be 2-year-old champion Fierceness, an erratic performer but one who possesses dazzling speed on his best day. If Dornoch, who races with a quarter crack that Gargan said is "not a big deal," becomes locked into a scorching speed duel with Fierceness, that still would not be all bad for Gargan. Society Man, breaking from post 20 with legendary Frankie Dettori aboard, would benefit from a torrid duel up front.

Society Man went off at 106-1 when he was tested in the April 6 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct in his first start since he broke his maiden. He possesses a serious late kick. The Good Magic gelding qualified for the Derby by placing second to Resilience in the Wood. He is listed at 50-1 in the morning line. Gargan knows he would have to move forward in a big way to be a factor. He could do that if the pace gets frenetic.

“There might be a real fast pace and we might be flying and then Society Man can pick up the pieces,” he noted. “It’s one of those things where you don’t know until the race runs.”

Gargan appreciates more than most how difficult the Derby is. Tax, a former claimer from a barn that used to focus on the claiming game, finished a well-beaten 14th in 2019. He is realistic but still hopeful about Society Man’s prospects. He is, after all, by Good Magic like his stablemate and is bred to last the mile and a quarter.

“If he runs anywhere in the middle up, it would be a tremendous race for him,” the trainer said. “He’s doing really good. He’s the type of horse that could shock us.”

Gargan learned his way around Churchill Downs at a young age. He rode his bike to the famous track and first obtained work as a hotwalker when he was 12 or 13. He soon was employed as a hotwalker in D. Wayne Lukas’s high-powered barn. All of his experience as a teenager was invaluable.

“It was something that taught me work ethic,” he said. “Being around Wayne, he ran a very tight ship and that taught me a lot. The work ethic and things like that, they stay with you your whole life.”

Gargan worked as a jockeys’ agent before becoming a trainer. He has received strong backing in recent seasons from owners Dean Reeves and Randy Hill, who urged him to move away from the claiming ranks and focus on developing young talent with much greater upside. In an ideal world, he would like to add another 20 runners to what is typically a 40-horse stable.

“I’m not going to be the guy who trains 150 horses,” Gargan emphasized. “Each person has to find their lane and my lane is not that. I’m really hands-on with stuff.”

If it's not Dornoch, a full brother to Mage, last year’s Derby winner as a son of Good Magic out of the Big Brown mare Puca, or Society Man, Gargan yearns to saddle a Derby winner in front of family members and friends.

“If somehow God blessed us with a Derby win, it would be … I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t get sentimental. But I’d probably cry, like a baby.”