Stronach Stable's Golden Missile dominates $750,000 race

Before the Stephen Foster Handicap (G2), trainer Joe Orseno was not sure how Stronach Stable's Golden Missile would handle an off track. He also did not know how the horse would handle a thunderstorm. Orseno was not even sure whether he would make it to Louisville in time for the $810,000 race on June 17. Amid the sea of uncertainty before the Foster was one fact that, Orseno knew, was worth all the riches of a treasure island: Golden Missile has developed into an exceptional horse as a five-year-old.

The son of A.P. Indy went out and proved that fact again in the 1 1/8-mile Stephen Foster, dominating a stellar field from flag fall to finish to win by 2 3/4 lengths over 3-to-2 favorite Ecton Park. The victory was the second in a row for Golden Missile, who won the Pimlico Special Handicap (G1) by two lengths over Pleasant Breeze on May 13 at Pimlico Race Course.

After spending most of the past nine months running into buzz saws and suffering frustrating defeats-including a close third-place finish behind Cat Thief in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and a second to Stephen Got Even in the Donn Handicap (G1) on February 5-Golden Missile is poised to become the head craftsman in the older horse division.

"We always knew this horse had it in him," Orseno said. "He'd always run his race, even in the Breeders' Cup Classic. But another horse has always run the race of their lives."

Now it is Golden Missile's turn in the spotlight, and nothing seems to bother him these days. A barrage of overnight and morning rains left Churchill sloppy on Stephen Foster day. Bad weather, in fact, had led to a series of delayed and canceled flights that left Orseno having to scramble to get from Cincinnati International Airport to Louisville in time for the race.

"I finally gave up (catching a flight to Louisville) and got in a cab and told the driver, 'Take me to Louisville,' " Orseno said. "He looked at me kind of funny, but he did it. It was $154, so I just gave him $200."

Making matters worse, a thunderstorm hit the track 25 minutes before the race, with a bolt of lightning and accompanying thunderclap landing so close to the track that Churchill executive John Asher cut himself off as he prepared to make a Kentucky Derby Alumni Day presentation.

"He's a bit of a high-strung type," Orseno said of Golden Missile. "When that lightning cracked over us in the paddock, I was worried about him. But it affected my heart more than his."

If anything, the power surge seemed to energize the 2.50-to-1 second choice. Golden Missile surprised jockey Kent Desormeaux a bit by pulling him to the lead a few jumps out of the starting gate. Normally a stalker or middle-of-the-pack runner, Golden Missile got the jump on Cat Thief and Ecton Park in the opening part of the race, running a quarter in :23.49 and the half in :47.70 while maintaining a daylight lead.

"(Golden Missile) broke firing with his eyes bugging out, ready to challenge for the lead," Desormeaux said. "I had to make the decision if I wanted to run neck and neck with someone or if I wanted to get in the clear. I clucked to him one time (leaving the first turn) and that got him clear."

"Kent knows how to ride him," Orseno added. "This horse has a mind of his own and when he wants to run, you have to leave him alone and let him do what he wants. It's weird instructions to give in the paddock, telling a jockey to get inside the horse's head and decide what he wants to do."

At the three-eighths pole, it was decision time for the rest of the field. Pat Day aboard Ecton Park decided to try to challenge on the inside of Golden Missile. Shane Sellers on Cat Thief picked the outside. Alex Solis and Chester House were flying from far off the pace on the far outside.

None of it mattered. Desormeaux shook the reins and Golden Missile answered authoritatively, drawing off in the stretch, opening up a 2 1/2-length lead in midstretch, and cruising home, hitting the finish line in 1:49.56.

"I didn't even really have to encourage him," Desormeaux said. "I left him alone for the next 200 yards or so, and he had some kind of answer. We went another 100 yards, he changed leads, and just accelerated away. It was fantastic."

Ecton Park, who won last year's Super Derby (G1) and was coming off an 8 1/4-length victory over a muddy track at Pimlico in the William Donald Schaefer Handicap, finished two lengths ahead of Cat Thief for second. "We went right up to the hip of the winner at the three-eighths pole and we just weren't able to run him down," Day said. "It was a good effort, a game effort. I was pleased with it; we were just second-best."

Chester House was another neck back in fourth. Longshot Aly's Alley was a distant fifth while even farther back was Oaklawn Handicap (G1) winner K One King, who finished 26 lengths behind the winner.

Golden Missile earned $502,200 for the victory, raising his career earnings to $2,017,010 from a 7-6-3 record in 20 starts. Golden Missile will get a rest before returning in the Whitney Handicap (G1) on August 6 at Saratoga Race Course. Orseno, who spoke with owner Frank Stronach from Austria by telephone shortly after the race, said the key to the stable's success this year has been Stronach's patience.

"(Stronach) said I think this spacing thing really helps him," Orseno said.

"That's why we won't go in the Hollywood Gold Cup (Stakes [G1]). We'll wait eight weeks for the Whitney."

The news got even better for Orseno after the race, when Stronach's wife, Elfriede, said he could fly back on the family's corporate jet. "I can't very well not give you a ride," she said, smiling.

Black Gold remembered with replica trophy

A replica of the trophy celebrating Black Gold's victory in the 1924 Kentucky Derby has been presented to Richard Freeman by his family. Freeman, 76, is the only surviving grandson of Mrs. Rosa M. Hoots, the breeder and owner of Black Gold. The presentation took place in the Churchill Downs winner's circle following the sixth race on June 17, Kentucky Derby Alumni Day.

Hoots, who in Freeman's words "was part Osage Indian, part French, and part origins unknown," lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nearly 70 years ago, her home was burglarized. Artwork and silverware were stolen, along with most of Hoots's Black Gold memorabilia, including the Kentucky Derby trophy. Hoots died in 1938. No arrests were made pertaining to the robbery, and none of the items have ever been returned.

The cost of the replicated trophy was covered by Freeman's children and grandchildren. "We started working on the project late last summer," said his daughter, Theresa Collins. "The track owns the trophy's copyright, so we needed Churchill's permission. It was granted in January. We then contacted the manufacturer, New England Sterling, in North Attleboro, Massachusetts."

Collins declined to reveal the price. "You don't do that with a gift to your dad," she said. "The trophy's plated with gold, and has some brass and sterling in it. In size and design it's a duplicate of the original, even to the tines on the horseshoe pointing upward. They point downward on the modern Derby trophies."

Sixteen family members were on hand to make the presentation. Freeman, a retired salesman, and his wife, Ina, will keep the trophy in their Garland, Texas, home "so our children and grandchildren who weren't here can see it," he said. "Then I'm going to will it to the Churchill people to display in their Kentucky Derby Museum."
-Bill Mooney