The Derby, Monmouth Park ... and more

It’s hard to believe that the Kentucky Derby is only about six weeks away. That’s not a lot of time for trainers to get their horses ready to run a mile and a quarter, although it seems like an eternity for us handicappers who can’t wait to start figuring our Derby exactas and trifectas in hopes of making a big score.

The last few years, there have been some 3-year-olds that I’ve really liked heading into the first Saturday in May – Smarty Jones and Barbaro – but this year smells like a crapshoot. Yes, Street Sense looked awfully sharp setting that track record in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 17, but was that really what trainer Carl Nafzger wanted in his first start back in more than four months?
He had to fight tooth and nail down the stretch with Any Given Saturday, and my guess is he may regress a bit in his next start. If you think he’ll be a vulnerable favorite come May 5, there are a slew of horses that seem capable of winning the Derby, including the Pennsylvan ia-bred Great Hunter.

Last week, I put a modest bet on Great Hunter in the second pool of the Derby Future Wager and got 11-1 odds, strictly because he was foaled in the Keystone State. I think he’s bred to get a mile and a quarter – by Derby runnerup Aptitude, out of a Roy mare – and he hails from the barn of Doug O’Neill, who seems to be winning all the big races nowadays.

Another 3-year-old I really like is Cowtown Cat, who impressed me winning the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct two weeks ago in what appeared to be a very easy victory. A big muscular chestnut, he reminds me of the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Charismatic, who also had a couple of very easy wins before taking the Derby in 1999. Plus, don't forget about Rick Porter's Hard Spun, who will attempt to get back in the winner's circle this weekend in the Lane's End at Turfway Park.

On the local front, do any of you like the renovations at Philly Park since the arrival of slot machines and the areas that are now designated for horseplayers? As a non-smoker, I can’t stand walking into the building – it’s just too smoky for me. The small area right inside the paddock is way too crowded, even on weekdays, and so I will have to wait until the weather gets nicer before I start going back on a regular basis. I much prefer hanging out by the paddock and the track apron to sitting on the fifth floor, anyway.

I guess a cramped, smoky environment is the price we pay for having the slots. Their revenue, after all, will keep the sport of racing alive in Pennsylvania. But gee, I long for the days when you could wander around the grandstand and find a nice little spot to study the program.

And before you know it, Monmouth Park will be off and running for what will unquestionably be the most important meet of its 61-year history. It will run two weekends, May 12-13 and May 19-20, before its gala, traditional opening day on May 26, which no horse lover should ever miss. Then, on Oct. 27, the Oceanport track hosts the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, the first time it will be held in New Jersey.

Over the winter, the N. J. Sports & Exposition Authority spent millions of dollars updating the circa-1946 oval. One of the casualties, alas, was the Olympic-sized swimming pool that was built by Amory L. Haskell for the jockeys. It was beyond repair, I was told, and it will be replaced by a viewing stand so the crowd can see the paddock on Breeders’ Cup Day. I’ve never taken a dip in that pool (though gazed at it longingly on humid, 95-degree days!) but I hate it when a part of the original track is destroyed, much like those distinctive curlicue hedges that used to be in the infield. They were ripped out for the new turf course and were thought to have interfered with the o ld course’s drainage. But I understand that the infield will be landscaped just as beautifully this season as in years past.

Ah, just thinking about Monmouth Park on a warm summer afternoon gets me feeling nostalgic. There’s nothing better than sitting in that big open grandstand and feeling the ocean breeze while sipping a brewski… hearing the roar of the crowd as the horses turn into the stretch … and then perhaps cashing a ticket or two underneath the colorful Hall of Fame banners that hang from the rafters. I often think of wonderful days spent there as a young girl with my father, grandfather and Uncle Ziggy from Bayonne, who loved playing longshots.

That’s what I call a little piece of heaven.