If you’re a kindred spirit who believes that omens sometimes can be important in picking a Kentucky Derby winner, then I have an omen for your consideration.
Back in January, somebody whose identity I’ve forgotten became the first person in 2016 to ask me, “Who’s your Derby horse?” Without even thinking about it, I blurted, “I think this is going to be the year Kiaran McLauglin wins it.”
I will swear on a stack of Daily Racing Forms that I was not yet aware that McLaughlin’s barn this year includes Mohaymen, the unbeaten son of Tapit and $2.2 million Keeneland sales topper that galloped to the top of the Derby rankings with a super-impressive win in the Holy Bull Stakes.
I said it because, first, McLaughlin is a native of Lexington and I love to see Kentuckians do well at the Derby. Second, he daily fights a courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Third, I’m friends with his brother Tony, who runs the Golf Shop on Middletown Road.
Early last year, Tony told me that Kiaran was really high on a colt named Frosted. He made it to the Derby and was lumped in the group that had the best chance to beat American Pharoah. He proved to be a nice colt, finishing fourth in the Derby, second in the Belmont Stakes, and third in the Travers.
Kiaran trains for the Arab sheikhs in Dubai, and I know they’re going to win one of these years, considering the money they’ve plowed into American sales confers over the years. Indeed, Mohaymen is owned by the Shadwell Stable of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai.
When I became aware of all this just before the Holy Bull, I remembered what I had told the guy in January. Today he must figure I’m some kind of a horse mystic. Maybe I am, and my powers are just now kicking in. That’s easier to believe than anything that comes from the big mouths of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Now I’m looking forward to watching Mohaymen (the name apparently means “protector” in Arabic) run in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream. He will be the prohibitive favor so I won’t bet. I just want to get an idea of whether he’s the real deal.
I’m trying to remember if omens have been good for me in my checkered past of picking Derby winners.
I bet on Proud Clarion in 1967 because I was the only reporter from The Courier-Journal to do a story about trainer Loyd “Boo” Gentry that week. He won in the slop and paid $67.20. I guess you could say that worked out pretty well.
I bet on Silent Screen in 1970 because his owner, Sonny Werblin, had basically forced the NFL-AFL merger, and I figured a guy that smart was capable of breeding and owning a Derby winner. Wrong.
In 1980, I bet on Jacklin Klugman because I’d become good friends with actor Jack Klugman. In fact, the Wednesday before the Derby, Klugman had me drive him to Central Kentucky so he could put his hands on Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Then he had me drive him direct to the Churchill backstretch so he could rub his colt’s face while saying, “Here’s a little Secretariat, here’s a little Seattle Slew, here’s a little Affirmed.”
The colt had the lead at the top of the stretch, but faded to third.
I bet on Sunday Silence in 1989 because owner Arthur B. Hancock, a dear friend of long standing, told me earlier in the year that he thought he had the colt who could beat the vaunted Easy Goer. I liked Easy Goer, too, because of trainer Shug McGaughey. But this time the racing gods were with Arthur, and I was with the future book in Vegas.
Let’s see.
I didn’t bet the mudder Go For Gin in 1994, even though it rained on Derby Day, because I was in love with Holy Bull. I didn’t bet on Charismatic in 1999 even though Wayne Lukas told me he was a different horse from the one I’d seen in California.
And, most hurtful of all, I didn’t bet on Monarchos in 2001 even though I had a huge omen staring me in the face – Donna Ward, wife of trainer John T. Ward, had been a dear friend at Henry Clay High. In fact, to be honest, I had a big crush on her, but didn’t do a thing about it because she was dating a friend.
I do lean toward happy omens and memories, so I had to wonder about whomever named Effinex, runner-up to American Pharoah in last year’s Breeder Cup Classic at Keeneland, was thinking.
I get omens from all kinds of places. Sometimes I see one in a horse’s name. Sometimes I remember favorite sayings from friends or teachers. Other times it’s because I have some connection with the owner, trainer, or jockey.
I believed Pat Day when he said in the 1980s that “there’s a Derby out there with my name on me.” I just didn’t put it all together when he was riding Lil E. Tee for Louisville trainer Lynn Whiting in 1992.
Same thing about trainer Bill Mott. He hasn’t specialized in pursuing the Derby trail, but I still think there’s one out there with his name on it.
I also sometimes like a horse if his name reflects something happening in the world. For example, if there were a Derby horse named “Davenport” or “Yarmuth,” I would bet on it and not think twice. If Exaggerator makes the Derby field, some of you are going to think of a presidential candidate and bet on it.
But I’m sticking with Mohaymen. My daughter works for a company that specializes in medications for MS patients. This could be the perfect storm.
I’m also not concerned, by the way, about following a Triple Crown winner. Sometimes they come in bunches The 1940s had four of them, the ‘70s three. It’s really all about fate and luck.
And omens, of course.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby