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Late Charge Gives Long Shot 3rd Place

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 4, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was another rail-hugging Kentucky Derby for jockey Calvin Borel, but unlike last year, this time he fell just short.

Borel, who saddled last year's Derby winner, Street Sense, got a third-place finish Saturday from long-shot Denis of Cork. The horse was in last place at the three-quarter pole but rallied inside to show at the end.

"He ran a huge race," Borel said. "We saved every inch of ground we could just to get there."

Trainer David Carroll said the horse did the best he could considering he was coming from post 16.

"I think with an inside post, he would have been laying a little bit closer," Carroll said. "But, having said that, my horse ran his heart out."

DESERT DERBY: Some National Guard soldiers from Kentucky are bringing a little Derby tradition with them to Iraq.

The members of the 138th Fires Brigade from Lexington put on their own Kentucky Derby complete with fancy hats, nonalcoholic mint juleps and stick-horse races on Saturday in Baghdad. The racers galloped their makeshift horses around a building at Camp Liberty that served as a desert track.

They even heard a rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home" from the 4th Infantry Division band before the race.

Sgt. George Martinez, the assistant battle captain with the 4th Infantry Division, finished first in the main Derby race.

JULEP COSTS A MINT: U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger took one sip of the mint julep, then joked that his team of golfers needs to start every tournament with such a drink.

Of course, this wasn't just any mint julep. It was one of the $1,000 varieties served on Derby Day at Churchill Downs. The drink is poured into a commemorative gold cup, using Woodford Reserve bourbon and mint from champion thoroughbred Secretariat's former home.

Only 99 of the gold-cup drinks were prepared this year, with proceeds going to the Secretariat Foundation. Penny Chenery, the horse's owner, was on hand to present Azinger with the drink. It was numbered 37, representing the 37th Ryder Cup that will be played in Louisville in September.

All the other mint juleps consumed at the track Saturday came in souvenir glasses.

JOCKEY MEMORIAL: A memorial to honor black jockeys being planned in Lexington will tell the story of Isaac Murphy, one of history's top riders.

Organizers are raising money for the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden that would be placed near downtown Lexington. Mayor Jim Newberry says the project is intended to give a more complete history of Kentucky's equine industry.

So far, only about $35,000 has been raised for the $1.7 million project, which includes video walls and a three-dimensional representation of Murphy.

Murphy is the only jockey to have won the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks and the Clark Handicap in the same year, 1884.

TIGERS CONNECTION: Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was pulling for Big Brown to win the Derby.

"I want Big Brown because of Rick Dutrow," said Leyland, who is in Minneapolis for a three-game series against the Twins.

Leyland met Dutrow, Big Brown's trainer, through baseball buddies Joe Torre and Don Zimmer. He said Dutrow has agreed to train Leyland's yearlings Little River Bob and My Miss Kelly. The plan is for Dutrow to begin training them in October.

Leyland said he immediately liked Dutrow because "he's not your suit-and-tie type" guy. He was a barn guy. It's kind of an interesting story."

Leyland has never been to the Derby, and wants to get there some day.

"That's on my bucket list," he said.

The Associated Press

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