Run For The Roses 2005 - 131st Kentucky Derby

Thanks for the thread, Hair-y!

We're doing Call To Post on bagpipes, out here in the desert...

Ain't that the truth. I got trapped in a horse trailer with one that panicked once. I was glad to get out of there.

there ya go...

this is practically a holiday in Southern Ohio and all of Kentucky....

And get the horse out unhurt?

We're doing Call To Post on bagpipes, out here in the desert...

Now that would be something to hear!

Best voice of all the singing cowboys. And Trigger was a helluva fine horse, and if I'm not mistaken, Trigger was a TWH, which surprised me when I found that out.

I imagine you're getting some odd looks from the desert people, huh?...:-)

My trifecta(box): High Fly,Noble Causeway, Bellamy Road.
My perfecta: High Fly, Bellamy Road, or Noble Causeway, Bellamy Road.
My favorites: High Fly, Noble Cauwesay.

"My favorite is usually an emotional response to the background story about the horse"

Afleet Alex has a great story i.e. connection to the little girl who started Alex's Lemonade stand. I'd like to see him win. Greeley's Galaxy has a nice story too- 83 year old trainer Warren Stute and the owner B. Wayne Hughes had to put up $2000,000 to get in.

Bellamy road sure looks the part, an absolutely gorgeous horse to watch.

I thought Don't Get Mad ran an impressive race, but it was only one week ago. If you subscribe to the "bet on the grey" theory Giacomo would be the horse.

I also like Wilko, Sun King, Andromeda's Hero, Bandini, and Sort it Out for a long shot. Wait, maybe I'll just put $2 on every horse in the race..... arrrrghhh.

Good luck to everyone.

The pipers give impromptu concerts every few nights. Draws a crowd, and every damn time, I forget my camera. I just listen, and enjoy.

One piper has a US Flag flying from the longest pipe. Looks great aginst the backdrop.

Working on the whole gig.

Oh yeah. He was tied in the trailer with one of those short trailer ties with a bullsnap on one end. The bullsnap was on the halter ring. Naturally, when he panicked being tied didn't help. I managed to get hold of the bullsnap and release him. He bolted out the rear end bumping his head as he went. He didn't go on a trail ride that day.

It'd be nice if that's a digital camera you have there, friend. I'd love to see that.

Good. It's scary anytime horses are frightened in small spaces. A friend's horse chronically pulls back in the trailer and has managed to break those bull snaps. I don't like to trailer with him.

I like the look of Bellamy Road too. And I do like Afleet Alex's story. Still wondering why Baffert is running a horse no one is talking about. He's by far my favorite trainer. He's just a cool guy.

We cant forget about the hats!

I didn't know anything about this horse. He belonged to some woman that was going to go on a trail ride with a group of us and we had room in our trailer. After he showed himself on my trailer, nobody else wanted to mess with him.

One of the things that I always do when I'm home is work with Cody on the trailer. I always walk him on the trailer and we just stand there for a few minutes until he's totally relaxed and then I lead him out slowly. I'm working on backing him out, but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet.

The more good experiences they can have in the trailer the better, but it still always makes me a little nervous...

Up to now Bay and I have always been dependent on getting rides with others. I'm looking forward to having my own trailer and a situation I am more in control of.

Loni Anderson would've looked a lot better if she let some hair show.

Did ya see the guy on TV who's wearing a Churchill Downs building with a Pegasus fluttering on it?

Weird.

Great thread !!! I'm rooting for Afleet Alex -- uplifting and wonderful saga. Here's a repost of another great article about the unique individual stories that surround Afleet Alex:

Afleet Alex tugs at plenty of heartstrings

By Pat Forde, ESPN.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- I see the jaded look in your eye. I hear the distrust in your voice. Your defenses are up, your cynicism is keen.

Too many dark, divisive stories have diminished the games you once loved unconditionally and naively. There are steroids in baseball and officiating conspiracy theories in the NBA playoffs -- but then again, at least there are NBA playoffs. There is no such competition for the Stanley Cup.

But here gallops your spring pick-me-up. Good old horse racing, coming through again, right on cue. Here is a story you can wrap your arms around, without skepticism. Here is a story that won't stop, about a horse that won't stop delivering new thrills and fresh goosebumps.

Here is Afleet Alex, heir to the warm feelings left by Kentucky Derby predecessors Funny Cide and Smarty Jones. He's ready to run for the roses Saturday. He's ready to reward the dreamers who helped him get this far. And he's ready to remind the jaded that it's still a joy to be a sports fan.

To feel the joy, you must meet the breeder of Afleet Alex. Doctors told John Silvertand, riddled with cancer in his colon and liver, that he had three months to live. That was in 2002.

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Afleet Alex looks good as he gets ready for what could be a starring role in the Kentucky Derby.

========================================================p Today, Silvertand is here to see the colt he helped survive three years ago when it was a newborn, and to see the full-grown horse that is helping him survive now.

"It's kept me going," Silvertand said of Afleet Alex's charmed run.

He endures the hell of a chemotherapy IV drip every Monday. But this week, Derby Week, his doctor canceled.

"You're getting enough juice from this horse, and from everything written about you this week," he told Silvertand. "You don't need any of mine."

So his wife, Carolyn, drove 60-year-old Silvertand and their 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, to Kentucky from Palm Beach County, Fla. This will be his first Derby, thanks to the horse the Silvertands literally nursed to life.

The family happened to be at the mare's boarding farm in Ocala, Fla., when Afleet Alex was born. The colt's mother, Maggy Hawk, had no clostrum in her milk and could not nurse her baby. Lauren Silvertand, a Romanian orphan adopted by John and Carolyn, fed Afleet Alex several times during his first days with formula in a Coors Light bottle.

"I don't think he had any trouble taking the bottle," Silvertand said. "When you're really hungry, you'll take anything."

For several days, until a nurse mare could be vanned in from Kentucky, Alex was bottle-fed. He was a scrawny, ugly thing, but he was going to make it.

"The foaling manager almost slept in the stall with this little boy," Silvertand said. "He was definitely brought up by humans, not by horses.

"They say if you've got a bottle-fed baby he's not going to amount to much. This disproves that."

They also said Silvertand would never see this day. He has disproved his grim prognoses many times over.

Silvertand watched Afleet Alex run in the Champagne Stakes and the Breeders' Cup this past October, then made it to the Arkansas Derby last month. After that, there was no keeping the relentlessly optimistic British expatriate away from the Derby.

"With what I've been through, it's touch and go," Silvertand said. "Every day I put my legs out of bed, it's a good day. I wish the rest of the world felt the same way.

"I hear people say, 'I have a headache,' or, 'I'm having a bad day.' Well, try being in my shoes for a couple of days. It's a difficult thing to go through, especially when you have a young daughter at home. But we're coping very well."

With the help of a horse.

To feel the joy, you must meet the members of Cash Is King Stable, the owners of Afleet Alex. Don't worry about gussying up for the occasion; these people are straight outta Philly and likely to offer an unvarnished "How are youz?" greeting.

Five of them put up $20,000 apiece to start the stable, and the first purchase was Alex. Three of them had never owned a horse before, and now they're at the Kentucky Derby. It's like shooting 69 at Pebble Beach the first time you pick up a golf club.

Meet Joe Lerro. He's the 44-year-old party boy in the Donovan McNabb jersey with the video camera up and running, taking in video of the Twin Spires on a crisp Kentucky morning. Lerro has made some money with a beer distributorship and some real estate, but his favorite venture is a pizzeria he owns in New Jersey called Joe Joe's Place. On busy nights, Lerro will get behind the counter to toss dough and pour beers himself.

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“ We've had a joyride, and we want to give something back. ... We want to be in [racing] for the next 20 years. Obviously we're a little spoiled, but, hey. ”
— Chuck Zacney

“ We want to be a lot spoiled! ”
— Joe Lerro

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In 1983 and again in '84, Lerro and some buddies road-tripped to Churchill Downs and watched the Derby from the feral environs of the infield. After the races were run in '84, Lerro wandered over to the clubhouse, "to see what it would be like on the other side."

Ever think you'd get there, with your own horse?

"Not in a million years," Lerro said, laughing. "Not in a lifetime. In eight lifetimes."

Meet Joe Judge and his wife, Barbara. When the offer to join a thoroughbred ownership group came last year, the director of patient accounts at Our Lady of Lourdes in Delran, N.J., took a reluctant pass. He couldn't afford to invest in something as high-risk as race horses.

When he hung up the phone, Barbara told him to dip into their retirement savings and do it.

"You always do everything I want to do," she told him. "I know you want to do this."

".............."One other thing Zacney did: He named the horse, after his son and Brittingham's daughter, both named Alex. And since the colt blew up into a star, he has been donating a portion of the group's winnings to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a cancer-research charity started by a little girl from Philly who died of the disease at a young age. There's a lemonade stand at Churchill Downs this week, in fact................"

Rest of story at link at top.

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Kentucky Derby Contender - Afleet Alex

Trainer: Tim Ritchey

Ritchey, a Pittsburgh native, currently resides in Delaware with his wife and two sons. A lifelong horseman, he began riding at 2 1/2 years of age. Trained with the Olympic Equestrian Team as a teenager, and went on to ride steeplechase races prior to becoming a trainer. He has won five training titles at Delaware Park and finished in the top four in their standings for 13 consecutive years. He has never had a Kentucky Derby starter, but won the 1999 Pennsylvania Derby with Smart Guy. Currently, Ritchey has about 45 horses in training, racing primarily in Delaware, Arkansas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Jockey: Jeremy Rose:

Rose, 26, was born in Bellafonte, Pennsylvania. He was the Eclipse Award-winning jockey in 2001, topping that category in both wins (312) and earnings ($6,659,411). He was introduced to horses through show competitions in high school, and first came to a racetrack in 1999. Began his riding career at Delaware Park, winning his first race there in September, 2000. He won his first stake race the following year on a horse trained by Tim Ritchey. He currently rides on the mid-Atlantic circuit, and was the leading rider at Delaware Park in 2001. Afleet Alex will be his first Kentucky Derby mount.

Owner: Cash Is King LLC

Chuck Zacney races in the name of the partnership Cash Is King LLC, formed in April, 2004. The syndicate is made up of five people and managed by Zacney, 43. In 1997, Zacney founded and is currently president of The Sirrus Group, a regional medical billing company based in Pennsylvania. Afleet Alex is the very first horse the stable bought, and subsequently named after three of the partners' children, purchasing him at a two-year-old in training sale in Maryland. Currently, they have about seven horses in training with Tim Ritchey.

Breeder: John Martin Silvertand (FL)

Silvertand, 60 and a Palm Beach, Florida resident, grew up in England and was around horses from his childhood, as his family built and owned Southwell Racetrack in Nottinghamshire. Prior to coming to the U.S., he and his wife owned a wine and spirits importing business. He came to the States in 1990, and has since maintained a small broodmare band. He and trainer Noel Hickey co-own the Florida stallion Tour d'Or, who stands at Hickey's Irish Acres Farm in Ocala.

Jeremy Rose has been riding tall aboard Afleet Alex on their way to their first Kentucky Derby.

Northern Afleet - Maggy Hawk (Hawkster)

Bay colt - Born On: 5.09.2002
Graded Earnings: $1,245,000 - Race Record: 9-6-2-0

AFLEET ALEX ODDS - 12:44PM est: 9-2

Great audio when the site opens:Kentucky Derby

HAPPY DERBY DAY!!

Hey, Hair. What's with all the horses wearing bridles that cross in an X over the horses noses??? They look like English bridles or bitless bridles.