Parimutuels

Kentucky Derby field creates stir in Florida's heartland

Never before has Ocala had such a strong crop of 3-year-olds for the opening leg of the Triple Crown.

By BRANT JAMES
Published May 4, 2005

Richard Hancock already has his trifecta box figured out.

Bellamy Road, Afleet Alex, Buzzards Bay.

Not a bold choice considering Bellamy Road - overpowering winner of the Wood Memorial - and Afleet Alex - victor in the Arkansas Derby - are likely to go off as two of the top choices in the 131st Kentucky Derby on Saturday. And Buzzards Bay is a respectable overlay after winning the Santa Anita Derby.

Hancock, an admittedly poor handicapper, would have picked those thoroughbreds no matter how their performance sheets read. As executive vice president of the Florida Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, he's inclined to root for and bet on the home teams.

That Florida's crop of 3-year-olds has produced two of the top three contenders for the Derby has not only improved Hancock's chances at the betting window, but created a stir in the state's horse racing heart of Ocala.

"Never before have we had so many talented horses in the Derby from Florida," Hancock said. "It's very exciting around here. It's one of those things that don't happen very often. And you have to remember, we've only really been at this for about 50 years. Kentucky's about 100 years ahead of us."

Florida became a factor in national thoroughbred horse breeding in 1956 when Florida-bred Needles won the Derby and was brought back to the state to stud. Since then, five more Florida breds have won the Derby, including the last Triple Crown winner (Affirmed) in 1978, and most recently, Silver Charm in 1997.

Roughly 35,000 foals are born in the United States each year, about 5,000 of which come from Florida, like expected Derby starters Spanish Chestnut and Closing Argument. Twenty colts eventually qualify for the Kentucky Derby as 3-year-olds. Many of the Derby colts that are born in other major horse-producing states like Kentucky and New York are eventually trained around or sold in Ocala, like Bandini, High Fly and Flower Alley.

"To have a fourth of the field being bred here, born here, and a lot of the rest of them coming through here for the education, that's why we call this the "Horse Capital of the World'," Hancock said. But Kentucky remains king, said Nadia Sanan, general manager of business operations at Padua Stables in Ocala, because the highest concentration of quality breeding stock is there.

"Unfortunately," she said, "the upper echelon of mares need to go where those stallions are."

A FTOBA-sponsored incentive program has helped keep more quality stock in Florida. The organization uses its share of statewide parimutuel handle to pay the breeder of a Florida bred that wins at a Florida track 15 percent of the gross purse of that race. That $12-million program's impact on the Kentucky Derby trail would be even greater if purses at Tampa Bay Downs and south Florida tracks were higher compared to races in other horse-producing states, Hancock said.

But in the end, much of Florida's success comes from sunshine and warm temperatures. New York's incentive program was worth $45-million last year, but its climate is not nearly as conducive to training horses as Florida's.

Sanan thinks Florida could eventually catch Kentucky if the state Legislature votes to allow slot machines at race tracks and sets aside a portion of that money to boost purses and breeder incentives.

"The breeders in this state and the tracks in this state are ahead of Kentucky in terms of the racing," she said. "In terms of the breeders awards and the ability to get slots, we're ahead of them. So, in some areas I think we will eclipse Kentucky, but it just depends on what level breeders are willing to go to support a stallion or if a stallion is going to have to go to Kentucky."

Eddie Sexton, manager of George Steinbrenner's Kinsman Farm in Ocala, plans to support the Florida industry with a Triple Crown winner. He said that Steinbrenner-owned Bellamy Road would be bred in Ocala once his racing career is over.

"Bellamy Road won't be going to Kentucky," he said. "Bellamy Road will be standing in Florida because people don't go to Kentucky because it's Kentucky. They go because the horses are there. If Bellamy Road goes and does what he's supposed to do, then people will come from Kentucky down to Ocala."

And Hancock's trifecta box may get a whole lot easier in the future.

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 00:58:13]