AP Photo
At least seven times David Scanlon has watched a horse he's worked with enter the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
Each time, Scanlon had broken and trained the horses at his family's Williston farm and then sent them off to new trainers and careers at dozens of racetracks.
Each time, they ran well enough to be contenders at the most prestigious horse race in the United States.
And each time, they lost.
As close as the 40-year-old horseman has come to breaking and training a Derby winner, the race has left the Scanlon family empty-handed. Each Run for the Roses has left them with only the thorns.
At Churchill Downs, the alcohol flows copiously and continuously. Mint juleps, champagne and high-end beer lubricate the Kentucky Derby, and for a race run this year on Cinco de Mayo, it seems utterly appropriate that a horse... more »
To understand why the Kentucky Derby really is the most exciting two minutes in sports – why stomachs twist at the start and hearts pound at the finish and tension permeates every step in between – you must trace the broad... more »
They wake up, and then they sing. Team O'Neill — as Kentucky Derby winner Doug O'Neill and his group of assistants and grooms are called — rises early, like all horsemen. In Baltimore, where the crew is preparing I'll Have... more »
J. Paul Reddam, owner of Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another, arrived in the Churchill Downs winner’s circle only after leaving his job as a philosophy professor at California State University, Los Angeles, to get into... more »
Email
Print
Share