Beauty and the bets

Florida Derby still gives fans a ticket to ride

BY BOB STOVER - March, 9 2004
FLORIDA TODAY

Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park, seven or eight of the nation's top thoroughbred horses will race in the 53rd running of the Florida Derby.

The Derby is one of the most prestigious and best-paying prep races for the Triple Crown series. Using recent years as a guide, there'll be 25,000 to 30,000 spectators at Gulfstream, located north of Miami in Hallandale. They'll wager about $5 million on the race.

Most of them -- the losers -- will toss their betting tickets immediately. The others will watch the toteboard to see what their horse paid.

Many people, especially those who have never been to the track, think gambling is what horse racing is all about. Last year, in his review of the horse racing movie "Seabiscuit," critic Roger Ebert praised the movie, but lamented its "curious indifference to betting." He noted that "horses race and bettors bet, and the relationship between the two is as old as time, except in this movie."

Betting does pay the freight, keeping the tracks operating and providing the big purses for the horses. But Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote the book on which the movie "Seabiscuit" is based, and others have started reminding people of the many non-gambling joys of horseracing.

"Racing misses so much by not marketing the true beauty of the sport itself," said Janet Del Castillo, a thoroughbred trainer who operates on a farm near Winter Haven and races at all three Florida tracks.

"You can see athletes and the challenge of these beautiful animals competing against each other."

Nan Mooney endorses that view. She is author of "My Racing Heart," a very personal account of her love of horseracing and her elderly grandmother who nurtured it.

Mooney's book has an entire chapter on her early fascination with handicapping, but she acknowledges it is merely one of many reasons to go to the track, and most of her tale is about the horses and jockeys she followed through the years, not her success or failure at the parimutuel window.

Asked last week to pinpoint one thing that would make the racing experience worthwhile for a newcomer, she said:

"Stop and look at the horses. Really look, drink them in. They are exquisite.

"Go to the paddock well before the race and watch the horses walk in, admire the muscles, the lines of their body, the elegance of their stride. Watch the jockeys strutting past, shaking hands with owners, whispering with trainers. There's magic going on all around."

Worth the trip?

Except for big days like Saturday, most horse racing "fans" won't actually see a horse in the flesh.

Gulfstream, one of the top tracks in the country, averages less than 10,000 attendance. Calder, another Miami track, averages less than 5,000 fans a day. Tampa Bay Downs averages just over 3,000.

Jack Luzzi of Rockledge says simulcasting is the reason for the small crowds, which used to be much larger. "That and the Internet," he said. Now, most wagering on a race is done at another site and handicappers have gotten so used to it that the frequently will watch the race on television, even if they are at the track where the race is being run.

Luzzi has a love for the horses, not just the gambling. His two sons are successful jockeys -- one in New York, the other in West Virginia. And he even owned some race horses for a few years.

"Being there is nice," he said. "And Gulfstream is one of the prettiest tracks."

But it's been 25 years since he was at a Florida Derby.

"I can go to the dog track and bet them or sit at home and bet them. So why travel three hours?"

Del Castillo said there is another reason that people like Luzzi and other potential in-person fans stay away: Unlike most sports, which try to keep their stars active, horse racing's greatest stars usually have very short careers.

"Some of the top careers last no more than 6 months or a year. If we developed stars with some longevity, people would come out to see them."

One reason is many horses are raced too hard, too early, in the quest to make the Triple Crown races, she said. This causes a high proportion of them to break down before they reach their prime.

Also, the ones who actually win the big races are rushed to the breeding shed.

"Here's what drives me crazy," Del Castillo said. "The whole purpose of all that breeding and attention to studs is to have a good race horse. Yet the minute they have a good race horse, they decide he has to retire at the top of his game and go to the breeding shed. They think they can't afford risk running him any more."

Empire Maker, last year's runaway winner of the Florida Derby, is a good example.

He followed up his Florida victory with a second place in the Kentucky Derby. He then won the Belmont and Travers, two of the top races in the country. But he was retired after racing only eight times and winning $1,985,000.

His stud fee this year is $100,000 for a live foal. He'll exceed his career racing winnings this year if he sires 20 foals. The expectation is he'll sire three or four times that many each year and he'll do it for 10-15 years.

Where to watch

Several of the horses entered in Saturday's Derby have the pedigree to follow a similar path. Read the Footnotes, a son of Smoke Glacken, has won five of six races, including Gulfstream's Fountain of Youth Stakes last month. He's already earned almost $400,000 and would be near $1 million in career earnings if he wins the Derby.

Bobby Frankel, who trained Empire Maker last year, is back again. This time, he's handling Master David.

If you make it to the race, Mooney, the author, has a tip for where you can watch these talented athletes at their peak. It's at the head of the stretch where the horses round the final turn before racing to the wire. Here's how she describes it in her book:

"The race is yours for just a moment -- when the horses barrel around the bend, torque their speed its final notch, and unfold for home -- but in that moment comes the strongest possible Thoroughbred hit. You see the jockeys' faces as they coax their mounts still faster, threading them through holes in the pack to give them space to run.

"You see the horses dig their hooves in deep or begin to wobble, sense who's tiring and who's preserved enough to rocket right on down the stretch. You see dirt and sweat and popping veins."

After experiencing that, you might not care so much if your horse finishes out of the money.