07/21/09

MINE THAT BIRD HEADS WEST VIRGINIA DERBY FIELD

By Bill Mooney

Organized horse racing in West Virginia dates back at least 223 years, but no horse who has won the Kentucky Derby has ever competed in the Mountaineer State before. That status is going to change on Saturday, August 1, when Mine That Bird goes to the post in the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort.

“We’ll be setting a precedent, I guess,” said Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr., who trains Mine That Bird for co-owners Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach (pronounced “Block”). On Monday, Mine That Bird worked four furlongs in a time of :48 1/5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Woolley described the 3-year-old  gelding as “looking really good” and “really sharp,” and plans to van to Mountaineer with him this coming Friday.

Woolley intends is to give Mine That Bird a workout at Mountaineer next Monday, and then complete his preparation for the West Virginia Derby with a series of morning gallops. George Smith, an exercise rider from Woolley’s home state of New Mexico, will be aboard for those chores.

Mike Smith, a 43-year-old Hall of Fame jockey and two-time Eclipse Award winner, will ride Mine That Bird in the West Virginia Derby. Smith has had one prior West Virginia Derby mount, finishing sixth with Wanna Runner in 2006.

Nominations for this year’s 40thWest Virginia Derby closed at midnight on Monday. The list of 37 nominees included Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird. Neither of them is expected to be Mountaineer-bound.

“Nevertheless, the fact that they were nominated is indicative of the prominence the West Virginia Derby has attained,” said Joe Narcavish, Mountaineer’s racing secretary. “This is the first time that all three winners of the Triple Crown events have been nominated to our race.”

Entries will be drawn for the West Virginia Derby on Tuesday, July 28. Narcavish believes another definite participant will be Awesome Rhythm, who has won a trio of stakes at Woodbine near Toronto, Canada, this year.

Awesome Rhythm’s most recent score was by 8 ½ lengths in the Victoria Park Stakes on June 7. The Victoria Park was contested at 1 1/8 miles, the same distance as the West Virginia Derby. John A. Ross trains the colt for owner Domenic Triumbari.

Monty’s Best, who has won a pair of allowance races at Woodbine this year, is also considered a definite West Virginia Derby starter. Owned by Jim and Susan Hill, Monty’s Best completed his 2-year-old campaign with a second-place effort in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill. He’s trained by Reade Baker, who won the Sovereign Award as Canada’s outstanding thoroughbred conditioner in 2005.

Big Drama, who has won five stakes, including the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot in Louisiana last December, is viewed by Narcavish as a “West Virginia Derby possibility.” Trained by David Fawkes for breeder-owner Harold L. Queen, Big Drama has won six of his nine career starts and has already surpassed the $1 million plateau in career earnings.

Trainer Steve Asmussen, a two-time West Virginia Derby winner with Real Dandy in 2005 and Zanjero in 2007, has nominated four horses to this year’s race. One of them is Kensei, a 3¼-length winner of the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 4. Another is Soul Warrior, who finished second in the Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows on June 26.

Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who won the 2004 West Virginia Derby with Sir Shackleton, has nominated Miner’s Escape for this year’s renewal. On May 2, Miner’s Escape was a 4½-length winner of the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.
Following a seven-year hiatus, the West Virginia Derby was renewed at Mountaineer in 1998. Since then, it has averaged 9.7 horses per field. Come-from-behind horses have won, as have front-runners.

Real Dandy was last through the opening half-mile among 11 horses, but closed to win by 1¼ lengths in 2005. Bright One was a wire-to-wire, 5 ¾-length winner in a field of ten in the following year.

Mountaineer will have a first post on West Virginia Derby Day of 2 p.m. The Derby, itself, will be run at approximately 5:45 p.m.