Nick Zito knows the good part of the Kentucky Derby as a two-time winner. He also knows the heartbreak of America’s greatest race.
Zito nearly joined fellow Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert as a three-time winner last year when Ice Box overcame traffic trouble twice only to finish second to Super Saver.
Now, after a winter of ups and downs on the Derby trail, Zito is back at Churchill Downs with Dialed In, the likely favourite for Saturday’s 137th Derby.
“There’s a little bit more pressure when you’ve got the favorite,” Zito said.
“As long as everything is going good, I’m OK with it. It’s flattering to have the favourite.”
That role was all set to go to Uncle Mo until the colt finished third in the Wood Memorial, the first loss of his career and one that turned the Derby into an open race.
“That’s what happens in our business,” Zito said, “as soon as you fall off, there are not that many people there. His race wasn’t that bad in the Wood. He’s still the two-year-old champion and you got to give him respect.”
Dialed In didn’t exactly dominate his final tuneup, either. He edged Shackleford by a head to win last month’s Florida Derby to record his third win from four starts.
“He’s still the only horse who’s won two major races,” Zito said, noting Dialed In’s first win of the year came in the Holy Bull Stakes.
“Right now, this is a great horse,” owner Robert LaPenta said after the Florida Derby.
And Dialed In has prior experience at Churchill Downs where he won his first career start in November.
As passionate and outspoken as Zito can be, LaPenta is just the opposite, which makes him a good client.
Zito and LaPenta are 0 for 4 in their previous attempts to win the Derby together. They came closest with Ice Box last year. The Cliff’s Edge finished fifth in 2004, Andromeda’s Hero was eighth in 2005 and Cool Coal Man was 15th in 2008.
Their biggest score since teaming up in 2001 came in the 2008 Belmont Stakes when Da’ Tara spoiled Big Brown’s Triple Crown hopes.
Zito liked Dialed In when he spotted him at a sale, having trained the colt’s brother Andromeda’s Hero, who later ran second to Afleet Alex in the 2005 Belmont Stakes.
Dialed In spent the winter in Florida before flying to Louisville last weekend.
He was joined by Zito who eschewed a commercial flight to sit on a bale of hay on the equine charter.
The 63-year-old trainer then rode in the horse float that brought Dialed In from the airport to the track.
“It was cool,” he said, adding that the last time he flew with a horse was in the days of propeller planes.
If not for the capricious nature of horse racing, Zito might have had two Derby contenders this year.
He originally bought Stay Thirsty as a yearling for $US160,000 on behalf of LaPenta, who then turned around and sold the horse for a $US340,000 profit in a practice known as pinhooking.
“I didn’t want to lose that horse. Sometimes you can get burned,” Zito said. “That’s what Bob told me, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I ever did in horse racing.”‘
The buyer? Mike Repole, who besides Stay Thirsty will have Uncle Mo in the Derby.
Repole has said if Uncle Mo isn’t the favourite when the morning line is set Wednesday, he’ll make him the favourite.
AP AAP TURF
