Boss had high expectations for derby

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www.yankees.com

Day after Derby: Although George Steinbrenner's horse, Bellamy Road, finished a distant seventh in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Torre thought that the race was very entertaining. Giacomo, a 50-1 longshot, upset the field to win the first leg of the Triple Crown.

"I thought it was a great race," Torre said. "I didn't have any of the winners, but it was a great race."

It was a disappointing weekend for the Yankees at Churchill Downs, as Torre's horse, Sis City, finished fourth in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, despite being the favorite.

"It's tough to win when you don't have your good fastball," Torre said.
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LOUISVILLE -- They don't call him "The Boss" for nothing.
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs on Friday as the most talked-about horse owner in the country because he's got the prohibitive favorite in the 131st running of the Kentucky Derby.

Steinbrenner owns the huge 3-year-old colt Bellamy Road, who won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York by 17 ½ lengths on April 9 in preparation for the Derby.

Bellamy Road, who had won his previous race by 15 ¾ lengths, taking the lead from the outset that day and drawing off so impressively that jockey Javier Castellano was pumping his fist and blowing kisses to the crowd about a furlong from the finish line.

And that wasn't all.

Bellamy Road set a stakes record with his clocking of one minute, 47 seconds, a time that equaled a track record and earned a speed figure that astute observers of the thoroughbred game are calling one of the best ever in a Derby prep race.

But as loud and noticeable as all of Bellamy Road's accomplishments might be, his owner has been silent. Steinbrenner hasn't talked to the media in the weeks after the Wood and hasn't made himself available at Churchill.

So his confident farm manager, Irishman Edward Sexton, has been talking for him.

When asked Friday to gauge Steinbrenner's level of excitement at having the Derby favorite, Sexton shrugged.

"Of course it means the world to him," Sexton said. "He says second is like kissing your sister."

Steinbrenner has had five Derby starters and hasn't come close to second yet.

His first, Steve's Friend, finished fifth in 1977. Eternal Prince, of whom Steinbrenner owned 37 percent, finished 12th in the 1985 Derby. Diligence in 1996 and Concerto (Bellamy Road's sire) in 1997 both finished ninth. Blue Burner finished 11th in 2002.

Now Steinbrenner has Bellamy Road, who's been the talk of the Churchill Downs backstretch. Maybe that's why Steinbrenner has been uncharacteristically shy.

"He's very realistic," Sexton said. "He knows that horses will put you in the sky and they'll dump you in the gutter."

Which makes Saturday particularly intriguing.

If he wins the Derby like he won the Wood, Bellamy Road will be compared to Secretariat, Man O'War, and the 1927 Yanks.

The second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore in two weeks, will become an absolute madhouse of anticipation and expectations. Think Smarty Jones times 100.

Kentucky Derby

Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.
Saturday, 6:04 p.m. ET
Purse: $2,000,000; 1 1/4 miles
PP HORSE JOCKEY ML ODDS
1 Sort It Out B. Blanc 50-1
2 Andromeda's Hero R. Bejarano 50-1
3 Sun King E. Prado 15-1
4 Noble Causeway G. Stevens 12-1
5 Coin Silver P. Valenzuela 20-1
6 High Limit R. Dominguez 12-1
7 Flower Alley J. Chavez 20-1
8 Greater Good J. McKee 20-1
9 Greeley's Galaxy K. Desormeaux 15-1
10 Giacomo M. Smith 50-1
11 High Fly J. Bailey 8-1
12 Afleet Alex J. Rose 9-2
13 Spanish Chestnut J. Bravo 50-1
14 Wilko C. Nakatani 20-1
15 Bandini J. Velasquez 6-1
16 Bellamy Road J. Castellano 5-2
17 Don't Get Mad T. Baze 30-1
18 Closing Argument C. Velasquez 30-1
19 Going Wild J. Valdivia 50-1
20 Buzzards Bay M. Guidry 20-1


Castellano, who was wearing a Yankees cap by the barn Friday morning, said he isn't feeling the same pressure as the other famous employees of Steinbrenner.

"I don't have pressure," Castellano said. "When you have confidence in yourself and your horse, you don't have any problem. Everybody says, 'How do you feel riding for The Boss in the Derby?' I say I'm blessed. So many other jockeys could be riding him."

Those jockeys are on what looks on paper to be inferior competition, although probable second and third choices Afleet Alex and Bandini have Major League credentials, too.

Afleet Alex drilled a good field in the Oaklawn Derby in Arkansas last month. Bandini cruised home in the Blue Grass Stakes, widely considered to be this year's deepest and most talented Derby prep.

While Sexton said he respects those horses, he didn't say much for the other 17 runners in the crowded 20-horse field.

"I think Afleet Alex and Bandini are very good horses," Sexton said. "Everything else in here, I'm not too concerned about."

And when asked if Bellamy Road's front-running style will be compromised by the presence of quite a few other speed horses, Sexton didn't blink.

"The one thing with this horse is, don't be fooled, he doesn't need to be in the lead," Sexton said. "If he's in fifth or sixth heading into the first turn, that won't be a concern.

"We just want him to be in the clear because he'll have his bags packed and be ready to go."

And if that happens, Steinbrenner, 74, will have another trophy to add to his six World Series titles and 10 American League pennants, not to mention bragging rights and a major shot at the Triple Crown.

If Bellamy Road doesn't win the Derby, Steinbrenner will have to take it in stride like he has managed to do during his Yankees' slow start this year.

Bellamy Road's breeder, Dianne Cotter, said she's never met Steinbrenner but hopes he gets some good luck Saturday.

"This might give him a little relief," she said.

Trainer Nick Zito, who has four other horses running in the Derby, all for different owners, summed it up succinctly when asked about Steinbrenner's feelings on the eve of the race.

"He loves this horse for obvious reasons," Zito said.

"I hope it keeps going for him."

Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The New York Yankees' horse-racing mojo that's expected to help Bellamy Road win Saturday's Kentucky Derby took a hit on Friday in the Kentucky Oaks, the female version of the Derby.
Sis City, the 3-year-old that is part-owned by Yankees manager Joe Torre, disappointed as the 3-5 favorite in the $500,000 race and faded down the stretch to finish fourth before an Oaks-record crowd of more than 111,000 at Churchill Downs.

Winning filly Summerly, ridden by Jerry Bailey, took the lead from the start in the 1 1/8-mile race, with Sis City stalking in second place on the inside. Sis City appeared to be laboring a bit as Summerly cruised in what looked like a relaxed gait, and Sis City switched to the outside for better positioning on the backstretch.

Just before the top of the lane, Sis City got to Summerly's nose, and the two battled neck and neck until Summerly pulled away slightly. In the deep stretch, Sis City backed up and ended up fourth, beaten by 4 1/2 lengths.

Torre, who watched the race in his office in Yankee Stadium a little more than an hour before the Yankees' first pitch against the Oakland A's, seemed to take the defeat well.

"It was exciting," said Torre. "Of course, I'm disappointed we lost. You just hope you're at the top of your game when the race is run. She trained real well, she just didn't run her best race today. But it doesn't take away from the excitement."

The loss was a major upset considering that Sis City had won her previous three races, with her last two being dominant efforts. In her last outing, on April 5 in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland Race Course, Sis City pulled away to win by 10 1/2 lengths, and she routed foes by 16 lengths in the Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 5.

"Sis City didn't seem to show her usual zip," said Bailey, who won the Oaks for the third time in his career.

Torre, a huge horse-racing fan and a friend of many New York-based trainers and jockeys, got in on the ownership of Sis City when he bought 25 percent of the $50,000 horse when she was claimed last September by trainer Richard Dutrow Jr.

Before Saturday's defeat, she had amassed five wins in nine career starts and earned almost $700,000.

For now, Torre will hope that Sis City came out of the race healthy. The horse will likely still be pointed toward the Breeders' Cup Distaff later in the fall at Belmont Park, outside New York City.

"It's interesting, the parallels here," said Torre before watching the Oaks. "The Yankees are supposed to win every game they play, and she's supposed to win, because she's favored. It doesn't mean it happens. You have to be able to go out there and do it."

Sis City didn't get it done on Friday, and the Yankees will hope the bad luck ends there because Bellamy Road, a colt owned by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, takes to the same track for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and will likely be the favorite as well.

Steinbrenner, who hasn't talked to the media all week about his horse, has taken five colts to the Derby since 1977. None has finished in the top four.

Bellamy Road brings a resume to the Derby that resembles the one Sis City took to the Oaks. He won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in his last race by an astonishing 17 1/2 lengths, equaling a track record in the process. Overall, Bellamy Road has won his last two starts by more than 33 lengths combined.

"I hope he wins," said Torre of Bellamy Road. "When you've been to the Derby five times, and now six, this has to be the most exciting for him. I know they're guarded about it, because you don't want to talk about it. You want to just go out there and watch it happen."


Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. Mark Feinsand contributed to this story from New York. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.