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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Could this be the year trainer Nick Zito wins the Kentucky Derby and finally shakes the jinx that drove him to the brink last year?
Zito will saddle Dialed In, the possible favorite in the Derby, and at the barn yesterday he was brimming with confidence that this year “he’s got the horse right here.”
After last year, Zito may need it. He suffered through one of the most exasperating big race losing streaks ever run up by a Hall of Fame trainer.
His horses finished second in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Preakness, second in the Belmont, second in the Travers, second in the Jim Dandy, second in the Wood Memorial, second in the Fountain of Youth and third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Then to wind up the year, he went to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup in November only to do it again — second in the Dirt Mile and third in the $6 million Classic.
Normally philosophical about winning and losing at the track, Zito’s 2010 tally of near misses drove him to his wits’ end.
But 2011 is a new year and Zito is off to a flying start. Dialed In won the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream, then topped it with a last-to-first stunner in the Florida Derby. Now he’s in the catbird seat for the Kentucky Derby.
“Dialed In is a very special horse,” Zito said. “He’s not that big, but he’s a little tiger and he’s well put-together with a beautiful presence. If he has a good week, I’m going to be very confident he will come with his big run in the Derby.”
This Derby stacks up as an eerie reprise of last year’s race, when Zito’s colt, Ice Box, after winning the Florida Derby, came from near last to get second in the Kentucky Derby after a nightmare trip.
Dialed In does it the same way. He came from last to win the Florida Derby and he’ll have to do it all over again on Saturday, when he will be near the rear of the field and need to navigate his way through the herd in front of him.
“That’s why I got Julien Leparoux to ride him,” said Zito, a two-time Derby winner. The French-born jockey won an Eclipse Award two years ago as America’s outstanding rider.
“He’s got so much patience with a horse and very good hands,” Zito said. “Of course, there is only one [jockey] Pat Day with great hands, but he’s very close to Pat and he has a great sense of timing.
“From the start, I thought he would be the perfect fit for Dialed In.”
Zito picked Dialed In, a son of Mineshaft, out of the Saratoga Select Yearling Sales for his client Robert LaPenta for $475,000. He has already earned nearly $900,000.
Few people realize Zito also bought another prominent runner in this year’s Derby, Stay Thirsty.
“I bought him as a yearling for $160,000 for Bob LaPenta, but then Bob pinhooked him [put him up for sale later] and he fetched $500,000,” Zito said.
“Bob made a good profit, but he told me later that selling Stay Thirsty was the dumbest thing he ever did.”
Who bought Stay Thirsty? None other than the billionaire Vitaminwater tycoon Mike Repole, who just happens to own Uncle Mo, generally considered Dialed In’s most dangerous rival in the Derby.
As for Nick Zito, there could be only one fate worse than finishing second — again — in the 2011 Derby to Uncle Mo. And that would be finishing second to Stay Thirsty.
