Louisville – Here is what the thoroughbred horse races do, what it does in such a way that it is possible – if only for a few minutes, or an hour or a day, or the two weeks which separate a Kentucky derby from a preakness – to divert the darkest days, from existence. Here is what he does: he narrows time and spits it under two arrows.
You need a 71 -year -old coach named Bill Mott, a man known for his dignity and patience in a frantic and desperate sport, and transports him to six years from a quagmire of Churchill mud to the ankle to another, from a 22 -minute expectation so that his horse declared another (much better) the horse 145th Kentucky not to wait all (much better) (much better) (much better) declared the winner of the 151st. He took him in a van at Fort Pierce, in the southern Dakota, 58 years ago, where he remembered having listened to the AM radio call for the victory of Prouri Clarion in the 1967 derby, at the circle of the most important horse race in the United States. It takes a 38 -year -old Venezuelan jockey, the Junior Alvarado, who, in adolescence, knew only one American race, from a hospital bed in Florida, injured when his mount underwent a fatal heart attack, 41 days later at a running victory in this same race.
All this because, seven minutes after 7 years on Saturday evening, a 3-year foal from the Baie de Regal named sovereignty, at 7-1 the third choice of Bettors in the field of 19 horsepower, exceeded journalism favored in the gloan of a cold and misty spring evening, from Gartan on front with giant light towers that were the subject of a persistent mist.
A few minutes after his end, Mott, who shot these 71 years last July, was held in the mud of Churchill, as he did in 2019, when his country house, a longhot of 65-1, finished second behind maximum security, to be raised at the first time after this long wait when the latter was disqualified. The delay this day was scary, the result hunted by the crowd, because maximum security seemed to be the best horse by a wide margin, and therefore many had put bets on him. This time, Mott wore the same windbreak and similar black boots, and a much more festive air. “We will take them in any possible way,” said Mott, diplomatically, as it is his nature.
But also: “It's better.”
Mott: “I can't say enough” about the sovereignty of the winners
Kentucky Derby coach Bill Mott reacts to the victory of sovereignty in the race for roses.
Mott formed excellent and prosperous horses in the world, from cigar twice (1995-'96) of cigar of the year, to the wish of the popular Cody, named for a young man, Cody Dorman, with a debilitating chromosomic disease, and winner of the sprints of the Cup of Emotional Breeders in 2022 and “ 23. Hitting a virtual clock every morning for more than four decades, endeavoring from southern Dakota to Kentucky and working from the same barn at Churchill Downs since 1980. “To be seated here,” he said of the derby derby derby press conference. “”
He praised the mud after talking with Kenny Rice de NBC and climbed three steps towards the Churchill field, then headed for the portico where the trophy would be presented. His son, Riley, a coach himself, intercepted Mott and seized him in an emotional hug. “Words cannot describe what it does,” said Riley, one of Mott's three adult children. “See what he does every day in his life. He is a great human being, with a great ethics of work. I'm so proud of him. “
(More time of withdrawal from a personal point of view: I met Riley for the first time when he helped his father and also frequented the Salisbury School preparation school in Connecticut, not far from my home.)
Journalism entered the race, a winner and impressive of two important and respected California preparation races, including the Derby Santa Anita of April 5. His story was the most told of any horse; The house of coach Michael McCarthy had been damaged at the point of nonhabitability by the Eaton Fire, one of the tragic forest fires that hit South California in early January. Journalism left the starting door as a 3-1 favorite, but it had never run on a wet track and only once in a field of more than five horses. “I am more worried about a bad trip than a bad track,” said McCarthy two days before the race.
The winner of the Arkansas derby, Sandman, was the second choice at the post, at 6-1. Next comes sovereignty. Chances can often be comical out of words in the derby; This is not the case on Saturday.
The derby is always a breed that mixes the cunning of the jockeys and, because of its heavy size, a dose of massive luck. None of his horses ran in such a large field or at the distance of 1 1/4 miles. Sovereignty and journalism, which would dispute the race almost towards the thread, have each had a little trouble and excellent journeys, from different regions of the giant starting gate. Journalism broke out in position n ° 8 and was tightened early, but the Jockey Umberto Rispoli brought it near the rail in the first turn and around the backstretch. The horses slowed down in front, but Rispoli made his way in the open mud and embarked on the last round in a disturbing manner. “I had a good trip,” said Rispoli. “I wanted to turn around for the house with only a few horses in front of me and that's what happened.”
The jockey of sovereignty, Alvarado, which is the jockey of Mott de Mott's house, is admired by the coach for his desire to work in the development of a horse, resisting the desire to push a horse in front of his preparation in an attempt to win. He started far from the rail, in post n ° 18, not necessarily disadvantageous, because sovereignty is a botter who does his best at the end of the race. But he fell out of the door; The official graph said he said: “… cut the heels of a rival and was slightly swept away.”
“I cut my heels a bit right,” said Alvarado. “I think, oh my boy, I hope he hasn't lost a shoe on this track.” He didn't do it. From there, Alvarado skillfully slipped it to the inner rail before the first turn. Mott noted: “You do not gain grade I (the largest races) of four or five (paths) wide around the two turns.” For Alvarado, his mount alone was a gift. On March 23 in Gulfstream Park, Alvarado was on the 10th race, when the mandate underwent a fatal heart event and fell, raising Alvarado. His injury was a hair fracture on his right shoulder. He missed three weeks of driving and was not on sovereignty (replaced by Manny Franco) for his second place in the Florida derby on March 29. “I had a broken heart completely,” said Alvarado. “I thought that was it. I don't know if I'm going to have another horse like that. “
Aerial view of the Kentucky derby of sovereignty
Take a view of the birds of the winning movements of sovereignty entering the last section of the 151st Kentucky Derby.
In the derby, while sovereignty and journalism sailed on the circuit, the pace was too fast at the front, less than 23 seconds for the first consecutive district and 46.23 around the transfer behind. None of the first leaders would hold. After the quarter of the pole and in the section, journalism took the lead.
But: “I saw the blue bristles coming,” said McCarthy. It would be sovereignty, in the colors of Godolphin Racing by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Break: In race, there are almost always complexities, even in the best of stories. Sheikh Mohammad, the 75 -year -old sovereign of Dubai, is respected and congratulated in the world of horse racing, but outside the races, his reputation is materially different. The most disturbing example: in 2020, a British court “established as done” that Sheikh Mohammad had removed two of his daughters and threatened his wife. Michael Banahan congratulated Godolphin, the representative of British Godolphin and the representative of British Godolphin, and it is probably sincere and valid. But apart from the racetrack, the story is more complex.
Back to the race:
Alvarado said: “When we turned home, I put it clear outside. I knew what I had (I had). I knew what he was capable of, and he didn't disappoint me.” They ran almost together for 17 jumps, but any experienced Watcher could see that sovereignty had more vapor. Sovereignty put a head in front inside the eighth post and moved away to win by 1 1/2 lengths, the second derby of Mott, the first of Alvarado. The first of Godolphin, in their 14th test.
“The winner organized a better race,” said McCarthy of journalism, a circuit concession, never necessary, but often an appropriate coda.
At the end of all this, the rain had stopped falling on the stockings, leaving only a cold and misty veil, it was strangely similar to 2019, but with a mirror image of emotions. At the time, I wrote for sports illustrated that nightfall was like “… a curtain falling on a surrealist theater.” It was a call to curtain, an arc against the present and the past. An interruption of the survival drama of the race for only joy.
