In Derby, Fast and Accurate running to bring sire home

Kendall Hansen has only one shot to win the Kentucky Derby with a son of his namesake stallion, and there is more on the line with Fast and Accurate’s performance than the Hansen name.

The equine Hansen, a champion juvenile and the sire of Fast and Accurate, stood one season at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., before being sold to Korean interests and relocated. Following Fast and Accurate’s win in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes, the human Hansen reminded onlookers in the Turfway Park winner’s circle that Coolmore has the option to buy the stallion back should his offspring’s performance warrant it.

A strong Derby effort by Fast and Accurate might not guarantee a comeback for the equine Hansen, but it certainly would help his case.

“I’ve been praying for a Hansen to do something big, and we finally have that,” Hansen said. “We’re well on our way. I’d sure love to get my stallion back someday, and we’re really happy with how the Hansens have been doing. I think he should be in the U.S. instead of Korea.”

A stateside return for the horse has been a passion project for the human Hansen, a northern Kentucky-based pain-management specialist who campaigned his namesake as a homebred.

Hansen bred or co-bred 37 of the stallion’s 102 registered foals in his debut crop and purchased Fast and Accurate for $85,000 at last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. All but one of the nine Hansen foals to have won or placed in stakes company are owned, bred, or were bought and resold by the doctor.

The most important investment yet, though, will be the $200,000 needed to supplement Fast and Accurate into the Kentucky Derby field, after previous deadlines to nominate to the Triple Crown had lapsed.

To help offset the cost, Hansen took on some familiar partners. First came Skychai Racing, a partnership including Harvey Diamond and Jim Shircliff that previously bought a 25 percent stake in the equine Hansen during his ontrack career. Part of Skychai’s interest in Fast and Accurate was later sold to regular associate David Koening’s Sand Dollar Stable.

The most recent addition to the ownership group was Olympic gold-medal-winning skier Bode Miller, who co-owns En Hanse, a stakes-winning son of Hansen, with the doctor.

Whether or not Hansen is successful in bringing his namesake back to the U.S., the doctor gladly acknowledged that he was playing with house money in terms of racing fortunes, bringing a son of his greatest runner back to the classic race.

“I never thought I’d get in the Kentucky Derby again,” he said. “This is a dream. It actually means more this time because I never thought I’d do it again.”