8/7/06

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE
CONTACT: TAMARA CRONIN
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
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CHESTER, WV — BRIGHT ONE CRUISES TO WEST VIRGINIA DERBY SCORE by Bill Mooney

For the past month, trainer Dale Romans has been telling people the lightly-raced colt he trains, Bright One, is an emerging star. And the chestnut son of Dance Brightly seems to have validated that assessment with his wire-to-wire, 5 ¾-length score in yesterday's 37th running of the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort.

Sent off as the even-money favorite, Bright One made it look easy, drawing away in the stretch under jockey Mark Guidry, who celebrated his 47th birthday with his second consecutive West Virginia Derby victory. It was Guidry's 4,841st career victory, and his 235th triumph in a stakes.

Bright One returned $4, $3.40 and $3.20 across the board. His final time for the 1 1/8-mile distance was 1:50.08. Track conditions were fast.

Although he did not make his career debut until May 27 of this year, when he finished second in maiden special weight company at Churchill Downs, Bright One is quickly ascending through the ranks of his division, and doing it impressively. He registered his first win in his second outing by 9 ½ lengths, and followed that effort with a 7 ¼-length triumph in the Forestry Stakes at Churchill on July 15.

Now, he has a graded win on his resume, and Romans has the big time in mind. "When you have a 3-year-old of this caliber, you have to be thinking about the Travers Stakes at Saratoga," Romans said. "The $1-million, Grade 1 Travers will be run on August 26. West Virginia Derby participants have competed in the Travers before, but none have ever won it."

Guidry's post-race grin was as big as the Cheshire Cat's of "Alice in Wonderland fame. "This track isn't really suited for speed horses, which makes Bright One's victory here all the more impressive," said Guidry. Last year, Guidry went from last to first in an 11-horse field to win the West Virginia Derby with Real Dandy. This year, Bright One was never seriously challenged by any of his competitors in the field of ten.

Cielo Gold, twice an allowance winner at the 1 1/16-mile distance at Churchill this year, but unplaced in his only prior graded stakes try, lost ground to Bright One in the stretch, but closed well enough to be 2 ¾ lengths clear for second.

"Running down the backside, I was a little bit nervous because everybody else was three or four positions off the fence," said Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode Cielo Gold. "I thought, 'Well, we might as well take the shortest trip, so I moved my colt down to the rail. We finished well. Bright One was just the best today."

"I tell you what, Dale's got himself a really nice horse," said Hal Wiggins, Cielo Gold's trainer. "I watched him race at Churchill, and he was just awesome. Ha! I wish Bright One had run somewhere else. My horse got tired from chasing him, but that's Cielo Gold's style, coming from behind. I'm not going to try to change that."

Cielo Gold was sent off at generous odds of 23-1. More than Regal, at odds of 11-1, finished third under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, and Ah Day was fourth under Jonathan Joyce.

Wanna Runner, who won the WinStar Derby at Sunland Park in April and the Grade 3 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park in May, was the 3-to-1 second choice in the West Virginia Derby, but faded from second position through the opening three-quarters to finish sixth.

It was the second consecutive disappointment for the Ontario-bred gelding the barn of three-time Eclipse Award winner Bob Baffert.. In June, Wanna Runner had finished tenth as the favorite in the $1-million Queen's Plate, which is run at Woodbine near Toronto, and is Canada's most prestigious race. Assistant trainer Jim Barnes saddled Wanna Runner at Mountaineer, and had no explanation for his decline in performance.

Bright One has co-owners. Fifty percent of him belongs to his breeder, Mike Bruder, and his wife, Carolyn Sue. The Bruders are from Evansville, Indiana, where Mike owns a business that distributes juke boxes and other such entertainment fare. The remaining 50% of the colt is owned by Delmar Daubs, who is also from Evansville and is a retired executive in the plastics business.

"I've been involved with racehorses since 1964, but never owned one with anything close to the ability that Bright One seems to have," said Daubs. "I told Mike, I've never had any luck with my breeding efforts, so maybe I'll do better purchasing an interest in one privately. That seems to be the case."

For Guidry, he had a terrific weekend. On Saturday, he won the $114,500 Sea O'Erin Breeders' Cup Mile at Arlington Park. On Sunday, in addition to his West Virginia Derby victory, he won the $85,000 West Virginia Secretary of State Stakes with Hot Storm. It was the second consecutive year that Guidry registered multiple stakes victories on the West Virginia Derby card.

The $450,000 winner's share of the purse elevated Bright One's career bankroll to $535,554. Romans indicated that the Grade 1, $4-million Breeders' Cup Classic on November 4 at Churchill may also be a possibility for Bright One, "if he continues to improve," Romans said.

Derby notes: Outcashem registered his 15th victory in his last 16 starts in the $85,000 West Virginia Legislature Chairman's Cup Stakes, but he had to survive three claims of foul for alleged interference down the backstretch before the Mountaineer stewards allowed his win to stand. The five-year-old gelding won the Chairman's Cup for the second year in a row. . . Real Dandy made an encore appearance at Mountaineer in the $125,000 West Virginia Governor's Stakes, but he only managed a fourth-place finish. The front-running, one-length winner was Cherokee's Boy. . . Mountaineer's purse distribution for the nine race card (all of which were stakes) was $1,538,000. There are 3,220 slot machines on the grounds. . . the West Virginia Derby will be featured on "Wire To Wire" on ESPN2 this coming Tuesday at 3 p.m. EDT.