BY JIM WELLS
Opening night at Canterbury Park Friday gave a crowd of 7,569 a chance to sharpen their handicapping skills and flex a few wagering muscles as a warmup to the Kentucky Derby.
By the time they filed out of the parking lots, former Canterbury riding champ Ry Eikleberry had left an early impression by bringing in three winners to get the early jump on a tough jockey colony that includes three other former champions.
And by the time people start wiping their moist eyes while taking in strains of My Old Kentucky Home and the horses have taken their spots in one of the two gates in Louisville Saturday afternoon, anyone interested in wagering on the Derby will have at long last arrived at a ecision or two.
That was not the case in all quarters on Friday as players sized up the competition in a 20-horse field for today’s race that appears wide open, one of the most competitive in decades.
Johnny Love, handicapper for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is solid on big favorite Justify, a horse he says has versatility. “(Rider Mike) Smith can sit back with him or let him go for it,” he said. Justify is one of two horses in the field unraced at two years of age.
Love’s colleague at the newspaper, turf writer Rachel Blount, is going in the other direction . “I’ll take the other unraced two-year-old, Magnum Moon,” she said.
Handicapper and race-track announcer Paul Allen has honed in on a son of Scat Daddy. “I really like No. 14, Mendelssohn,” he said. “I think he’s a super horse.”
Allen has been around long enough to understand that picking a Derby winner is sometimes like throwing darts, especially with this year’s field. “You know I think I’ve picked four winners in the last 29 Derbies,” he said. “And this year’s race is the most wide open I’ve seen in 26 years.”
There are those whose handicapping is compromised by other loyalties. Take Oscar Quiroz, for instance. The Big O, as he’s known, has worked along Shawn Coady shooting racetrack pictures for the last several years in Shakopee. This year he plans to work the gate instead, something he does during the winter months at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz.
This weekend, however, he is in charge of the photography studio while Coady works Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., at today’s Derby. The Big O is not so much handicapping the race as he is rooting for a certain horse.
He is friends with Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of Bolt d’Oro. “It would be so cool to see that horse win it,” he said.
Peggy Davis, the program coordinator and placing judge, was in an analytical frame of mind Friday night, weighing talent and investment. “Justify will be a big favorite,” she said. “But he won’t have a price. I like Vino Rosso. He’s tenacious and will offer a price.”
Press box mediator Jeff Maday hemmed and hawed while analyzing the field. “I don’t like to be pinned down too early,” he said. “I’ve got two horses I like right now, Flameaway and Audible.”
What exactly does he have in mind, an exacta perhaps? “I could use them that way,” he said. “It’s a little early yet. We’ll see.”
Former paddock foreman Kevin Gorg stopped by the pressbox and was coaxed out of some of his thinking on the matter.
“I like Bolt d’Oro,” he said. “He runs his race every time and he has a good rider in Victor Espinoza. Gorg likes Espinoza’s ability to adjust as the race plays out. Fast or slow, he trusts this rider. And…”at 9-1 he’s a good value, too.”
TV producer Jon Mikkelson kept it plain and simple. “I like Audible. He’s sound enough,” he said.
