LOUISVILLE – At last, a superhorse in the making, the new Seattle Slew, unbeaten and maybe, just maybe, unbeatable.
Barbaro, the colt that everyone secretly feared, engraved his name in turf history with a staggering triumph in yesterday’s 132nd Kentucky Derby, not simply because he won the greatest race in the land but because he reduced a star-studded field of opponents to hacks.
He took a bunch of potential champions and made them look like spear carriers. Only a giant does that.
Indeed, not since Seattle Slew came to Churchill Downs unbeaten and unbowed in 1977 to begin his historic march through the Triple Crown has a Derby winner overwhelmed his field as Barbaro did yesterday. He was simply breathtaking.
And as if to underline the feat, Barbaro ran the Derby mile and a quarter almost a full second faster than Seattle Slew – while under a virtual hand ride.
In the past few years, we have thrilled to the adventures of many potential Triple Crown heroes – from Silver Charm to Funny Cide to Smarty Jones – all of whom failed the final test at Belmont. The temptation is to hail all big Derby winners as the next Triple Crown champion, the first since Affirmed in 1978.
But none came through. Maybe, just maybe, we finally have seen a new Triple Crown blockbuster in Barbaro. This just might be the real deal.
The Derby unfolded perfectly for Barbaro under a sweet, patient, dexterous ride by jockey Edgar Prado. The speed horses, Keyed Entry and Sinister Minister, did as expected, setting a brisk pace, hitting the half mile in 46 seconds, the six-furlong marker in 1.10.88.
Prado had Barbaro sitting just behind them, like a panther ready to pounce. “He was running so easily, I was never concerned about the horses up front,” Prado said later. In a word, it was almost a rocking-horse ride.
But that’s what makes Barbaro so formidable. His gallop is so machine-like, so smooth and fluid, that clockers all week were touting him on television as if they’d never seen a horse move over the ground so effortlessly. Indeed, in Friday’s Post we suggested he could be the new Seattle Slew.
The horse’s acceleration was stunningly visible when he swept to the lead and left everything in his jet stream. “What can I say?” said his trainer, Michael Matz, after the race. “You all saw it for yourselves.”
Precisely. Words are futile. Seeing was believing. The least surprised was Prado. “I never had any doubt about what kind of horse he was. Now I just hope we can win the Triple Crown.”
Lordy, the jockey had hardly passed under the wire and he was already thinking Triple Crown. But then, of the 157,000 people at Churchill, the second largest crowd in history, who could not have thought exactly the same?
Prado was ecstatic. “This is the best,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. But this is America, the land where dreams come true.”
Barbaro’s success was a profoundly moving reward for his trainer, whose personal bravery in surviving an horrific 1989 plane crash and rescuing children about him, is testament to his character, his quiet fortitude and his optimism to life.
Matz’s background is well known, of how he competed in the equestrian events in three Olympic Games and won a silver medal in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and was rewarded by being selected to carry the U.S. flag.
But at Churchill Downs yesterday, he made more history by getting Barbaro to win the Derby off a five-week hiatus, a feat most felt was nigh impossible.
Like his horse, Matz is magic.
But nothing like that can be said for all the horses that failed behind him. Brother Derek did best of the flops, dead-heating for fourth with Jazil. But well-bet hopefuls like Lawyer Ron, Point Determined, A.P. Warrior, Bob and John, and Sinister Minister never gave their bettors even a ray of hope.
Many soaring reputations were damaged here. There’ll be some deep postmortems over this Derby, trying to discover what went wrong. In the end, nothing went wrong. It was just that the best horse in the country made ground beef of the competition.
