11.24.2001	Photo by: Four-Footed Fotos
		Jockey Tony D'Amico, shown above guiding Repent to victory in the 2001 Brown & Williamson Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (GII), lost both of his high-profile Kentucky Derby (GI) mounts but in the wacky world that is the Kentucky Derby jockey's colony, he may have the last laugh. D'Amico is the regular rider of Perfect Drift, one of the top Kentucky-based horses on this year's Derby trail whose next start will be in the Lane's End Spiral Stakes (GII) at Turfway Park on March 23.

Tough Decisions Inherent Part Of Quest For Derby Roses
By, William F. Reed

The Kentucky Derby jockey colony always runs the gamut from Hall-of-Famers attempting to gild their legends, to once-greats trying to revive their careers, to young hotshots and anonymous journeymen trying to earn a slice of immortality in the world's most popular and historic race.

The Derby trainers are a similar eclectic mix - aging, shifty-eyed veterans invigorated by the chance for a last hurrah and the challenge to match wits with horsemen who have lived on the game's fringes until finally catching "lightning in a bottle" with the horse of a lifetime.

And then there are the owners, who range from wealthy pillars of the racing industry who don't bat an eye at meeting the Queen of England to politicians and ex-convicts to basketball coaches, former used-car salesmen, and hucksters who want to use horses to sell their products.

But behind all the touching, zany, and feel-good stories, there's another side to racing -- a dark side, if you will. It's called business. In their quest of the Derby roses, owners, trainers, and jockeys all are required to make hard, tough decisions that usually create hard feelings and define their careers.

Unlike pro golfers, who might have 20 or 25 chances to win the Masters, Thoroughbreds have only one shot at the Derby. That's why the people around them work so hard to avoid mistakes. They try to do everything right, then throw themselves at the mercy of the racing gods on the first Saturday in May. They know that for every Derby hero, there's a Derby goat.

Which brings us to the fascinating case of trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Tony D'Amico.

At 38, D'Amico is is a competent, but undistinguished, rider who has spent most of his career in the Midwest. In a good year, he'll earn about a fifth of what top riders such as Pat Day, Jerry Bailey, and Chris McCarron make. He usually watches the Triple Crown and Breeders Cup races on TV in the jocks' room.

McPeek, 39, earned some national attention when he trained Tejano Run to a second-place finish in the 1995 Derby. He came back in 2000 with Deputy Warlock, whose disappointing 10th-place finish only strengthened McPeek's resolve to win the Derby.

Last year McPeek had a couple of promising 2-year-olds in Repent, whose only loss in his last five starts was a second to Johannesburg in the Breeders Cup Juvenile (GI), and Harlan's Holiday, an Ohio-bred colt who never finished worse than second.

D'Amico had the mount on both colts. When McPeek prepared to leave for Florida, where he spends the winter, the jockey had a tough decision. If he followed McPeek to Gulfstream Park, his business and bank account probably would suffer. But if he didn't, he'd probably lose the mounts on Repent and Harlan's Holiday.

So, D'Amico followed his dream.

He rode Harlan's Holiday to a second-place finish in the Jan. 19 Holy Bull Stakes (GIII), where the son of Harlan was only beaten beaten only three-quarters of a length By Booklet. Then the colt again ran second to Booklet in the Feb. 16 Fountain of Youth (GI), but this time he was beaten by a nose. Nevertheless, a few days after the Fountain of Youth, McPeek announced that he was replacing D'Amico with Edgar Prado for the Florida Derby on Saturday, March 16.

The other shoe dropped four days later, when McPeek announced that Jerry Bailey would replace D'Amico on Repent for the Louisiana Derby (GII) on March 10 or the Spiral at Turfway Park on March 23, even though D'Amico had ridden the colt well in the Risen Star on Feb. 17 at the Fair Grounds (GII). He had kept Repent near the back of the pack, until unleashing him for a torrid stretch run that led to an easy win and the dubious distinction of Derby favorite.

Why makes the changes?

"With Harlan's Holiday, we got to figure out how to get past Booklet," McPeek said. "It's at that stage -- we've got to make some tough decisions. You've got to get somebody who's tried and tested in those spots -- that's been there, done that, and has no fear of them."

Obviously disappointed and angry, D'Amico said it was "the same old thing...They felt they wanted someone who has been there before."

Immediately underdog lovers and D'Amico supporters accused McPeek of being disloyal. But as trainers always say in these situations, it was nothing personal, just business. With a tremendous chance to win his first Derby, McPeek didn't want to open himself up to second-guessing for using a so-so rider.

He's playing it by the book, in other words, which also is why he quickly discarded the option of taking Repent to Dubai for the $2 million U.A.E. Derby (GII) on March 23. If McPeek loses the Derby, it won't be because he veered off the roads to Churchill Downs that trainers usually take.

But just as jockey Donna Barton asked after trainer D. Wayne Lukas replaced her with Bailey on the talented Boston Harbor in 1997, how is a jockey supposed to get experience in classic races if a trainer or owner is too afraid of failure to give him, or her, a chance?

In other words, some perceptive horseman had to see something so special in the likes of the young Eddie Arcaro, Bill Shoemaker, Bill Hartack, and Julie Krone that he was willing to roll the dice on an unproven rider.

Sometimes the decisions work out, sometimes they don't. And trainers and jockeys have this in common -- both are completely at the mercy of the owners. If Repent or Harlan's Holiday stubs a toe on the way to Churchill Downs, McPeek could find himself knowing exactly how D'Amico felt.

The Derby history book brims with examples.

In the mid-1960s, owner John Galbreath of Darby Dan Farm took his horses away from the respected Jimmy Conway, who had won the Derby for him with Chateaugay in 1963, and replaced him with the unknown Lloyd "Boo" Gentry, who won the Derby for him with Proud Clarion in 1967.

The owners of Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner, had a falling-out with trainer Billy Turner and replaced him with a "yes-man" named Doug Peterson. They also took the mount away from jockey Jean Cruguet, who had ridden Slew in his first 13 starts (including the Triple Crown) and gave him to Angel Cordero, Jr. for his last four races.

In the mid-1990s, trainer Nick Zito had some nice Derby prospects in training for owner James "Mattress Mac" Macingvale of Houston, who had made his fortune by hawking mattresses and other furniture on TV and the internet.

When Zito balked at owner's suggestion that his horses would be better off at Turfway Park than Gulfstream, the owner sent the horses to other trainers. None of the horses was heard from again, but "Mattress Mac" was. He will be remembered in infamy for putting up the money to get Turfway Park to change the name of the Jim Beam stakes to the Galleryfurniture.com Stakes.

Sometimes, too, jockeys and trainers do themselves in.

In 1942, Arcaro blew a Derby win by picking Greentree Stud's Devil Diver, who finished sixth, over stablemate Shut Out, who won. However, he redeemed himself in 1948 by picking Calumet Farm's Citation over speedy stablemate Coaltown. Citation became Arcaro's third Triple Crown winner.

In 1957, trainer Johnny Nerud was so disappointed in his jockey's ride on Gallant Man in a second-place finish in the Wood Memorial that he replaced him with Shoemaker for the Derby. Gallant Man appeared to have the Derby won, but Shoemaker misjudged the finish line and briefly stood up in the irons at the 16th pole, allowing Iron Leige to get past him for the victory.

Seven years later, when Shoemaker picked Hill Rise over Northern Dancer, trainer Horatio Luro retained Hartack to ride Northern Dancer in Louisville. In one of the best Derby finishes ever, "the Dancer" held off Hill Rise's charge to win a the 1964 Derby in a photo finish.

So don't feel too sorry for D'Amico or be too hard on McPeek. It's just the nature of the business. Though they are unpleasant at the time, bitter firings and poor decisions happen almost every year on the road to the Derby.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report, contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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