It wasn’t long before Mike Smith won his fourth Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) in the past five years, this time with Zedan Racing’s Taiba , an invasive thought floated to the surface, weaving into his otherwise carefree brows. It goes like this: “Is he okay with that starting gate?”
The gate in question is the plane of 20 stalls currently in use by Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), which will take place for the third time on May 7.
Horses rush out of the gate during the 2021 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
“OK”, in Smith’s context, is his dark horse Derby’s size concern in relation to the interior of the new gate’s starting stalls, in addition to the streamlined attributes its other.
“The position of the gate certainly makes for better internal posts, such as from one to three, and then from the far outside,” says Smith. “It gives everyone a fair chance. It’s also a European-style gate, so the stalls have a narrower feel. So if you’re on a big horse, they’ll come across a It’s a bit difficult to get out of there, if you have a tight spot. horses, they’ll go a lot easier.”
When Smith entered the new starting gate for the 2020 Derby — which took place in September of that year — he was on the winning boat of the Santa Anita Derby. Honor AP at stall 14. A large pony with a stalking speed, the Honor AP seemed to falter for a split second when the door opened. Paco Lopez, break into Smith’s left, authorize his mount, Traffic Ny , skewed to the right, following whatever path the Honor AP might have salvaged. The Honor AP, at one last point, rallied to finish fourth.
In the 2021 Derby, Smith teamed up for the first and only time with Midnight Bourbon , a great figure of a purebred dog whose recent sudden death from a reported gastrointestinal incident shook the racing world. They also went half a step behind when the Derby started, which caused the dark horse to lose its fast pressing style.
Smith said: “He was a gorgeous horse. “I know he’s also a pretty fast horse, and he wanted to be that day. But I’d never been in the gate with him before, so when we got in there, I thought, ‘Wow. !’ I can hardly fit when there is so much padding.”
Smith notes: “When the gate opens, their hips will drop below the stall mattress. “He’s really big, it feels like pads are around his hips and holding him down for the duration of the jump. There are three or four other athletes riding big horses that have had the same trouble. on one’s own.”
With the old portals in use, Smith has no problem with recent mounts rolling at their natural speed, among them Bodemeister , Palace Malice , Danzing Candy and that red horse’s name Evenly . Smith laughed at the thought in the new portal.
“Justify hardly fits there,” Smith said. “And Zenyatta she will never fit in at all. “
For the Midnight Bourbon race, the foal was back in the herd and pressed very wide in the last leg, finishing sixth out of 19 finishers. Of his 16 starts, his only other other finish to cash came when he fell to TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) and when he finished fifth in his final match, the 2022 Dubai World Cup. sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1).
Even with Smith’s concerns, there will be skeptics who will argue that the start is not so important in the one-and-a-half mile race, with plenty of time to make up for an early mistake. Smith was quick to correct that view.
“No, man, cleaning is important with 20 horses,” he said. “You’re shuffled back, your horse is out of his game, and it’s hard to make up for that with so many people in it.”
For many years, connecting the 14-horse United Puett gate and indeed to the six-horse training port is a complicated solution, which presents a double fold when it comes to the work.
Horses out of the gate during the 2018 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
The horses at stalls 14 and 15 — separated by a DMZ layer of giant tires and metal superstructures — left the gate as if nothing had happened, to their right or left. The pressure from long shots from outside on the inward corner was magnified by space. Horses ended up like flies in an accordion. Beginners as assistants at counter 20 are so close to customers, they are given phone numbers and mint cups.
To their credit, Churchill Downs management listened. Their search for a portal of 20 stalls led them to Sterline, an established Australian company with many international clients. The gate was shipped to Louisville in parts and assembled on site by Churchill staff.
Aesthetically, the 20-port gate is a huge improvement over the old system, which required two tractors to safely pull each gate off the track before Derby’s turn went home. No longer are the horses inside facing a right angle to join the original line, and neither are the 18-20 stalls out there being cheap chairs.
Smith, who will ride in his record 28th Derby at Taiba, is delighted to be on the show. At 57, he has yet another chance to become the oldest driver to win America’s most famous race, a mark held since 1986 by Bill Shoemaker, 54 years old at the time. there.
Taiba, son of Gunman , there will be only the third match in the Derby. Smith rode Taiba to win the first race for Bob Baffert before the pony was passed to Tim Yakteen before he started the Santa Anita Derby, hoping to earn the entry point to the Derby that anyone nothing Baffert trained did not.
Smith said: “I don’t think I have anything for the Derby. “Now, not only do I have one, I will not trade places with anyone. He is a very talented, intelligent horse. And he listens to you. He comes early, but you can turn him down, then when you want him back you just ask him I like the way he ended up when he crossed his path and headed home he fell to the ground and ended up like my dad.”
All that is good, jock. But the question remains: How will he fit into the Derby starting audience?
Smith said: “I was thinking about that right after he won the Santa Anita Derby. “I’ll be honest. He’s definitely not as tall or wide as Midnight Bourbon. He’s a good size but not too big, more like a male line. So he’ll be fine.”
