Derby Watch: Vino Rosso's connections looking for Derby double

The Kentucky Derby will be run for the 144th time on May 5, yet in the prior 143 runnings, only once have the same jockey, trainer, and owner teamed to score consecutive victories.

So, in a year when Justify and Magnum Moon will be trying to end a streak that began in 1882, and in which the world-class team of trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore will be trying to add the biggest race in the United States to their extensive trophy collection with Mendelssohn, the colt Vino Rosso is the conduit for another compelling story line. He could propel John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher, and the St. Elias Stable of Vinnie Viola into a category that includes the greatest Derby winner of them all, Secretariat.

Secretariat won the Derby and the rest of the Triple Crown in 1973, one year after his stablemate Riva Ridge won the Derby and the Belmont. Both colts were ridden by Ron Turcotte, trained by Lucien Laurin, and were owned and bred by the Meadow Stable of Penny Chenery.

In the great, rich history of the Derby, beginning with Aristides in 1875, that is the only time the same jockey, trainer, and owner have combined to win the Derby in back-to-back years.

Last year, Velazquez, Pletcher, and St. Elias won the Derby with Always Dreaming. St. Elias is part of an extensive partnership that owns Always Dreaming. With Vino Rosso, St. Elias is partners with Mike Repole. Vino Rosso comes off a victory in the Wood Memorial and is one of four horses Pletcher has lined up for this year’s Derby.

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Always Dreaming was the lukewarm 9-2 favorite last year. Vino Rosso is the seventh choice at 15-1 on the Derby line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper. Both Riva Ridge and Secretariat were the favorites in their respective Derbies.

If Velazquez wins, he will join six other jockeys who have scored consecutive victories in the Derby.

In addition to Turcotte, the other five jockeys who have done it are Isaac Murphy, Jimmy Winkfield, Eddie Delahoussaye, Calvin Borel, and, most recently, Victor Espinoza, aboard California Chrome in 2014 and American Pharoah in 2015. Bobby Ussery, who won the 1967 Derby on Proud Clarion, finished first in consecutive Derbies but was denied a repeat victory in 1968 owing to the disqualification of Dancer’s Image for a medication violation.

Pletcher is seeking to become the first trainer in 20 years – and the seventh overall – to win the Derby back to back. In addition to Laurin, the others who have done it are H.J. “Derby Dick” Thompson, Ben Jones, Jimmy Jones, D. Wayne Lukas, and, most recently, Bob Baffert, with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998.

Rarest of all are owners winning consecutive Derbies. Besides Meadow Stable – the most recent to accomplish the feat – it has happened just three times, and two of those belong to Calumet Farm, which won the Derby in 1948 and 1949 and again in 1957 and 1958. Col. E.R. Bradley also won the Derby in consecutive years in 1932 and 1933. Every one of those winners – for Meadow Stable, Calumet, and Bradley – were homebreds.

In addition to St. Elias, West Point Thoroughbreds is aiming to win the Derby in consecutive years as an owner. West Point was part of the Always Dreaming group last year and this year has bought into the My Boy Jack partnership.

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But Vino Rosso stands alone this year as the only horse who can bring the same jockey, trainer, and owner to the Derby winner’s circle for the second straight year.

In other Derby developments:

◗ Snapper Sinclair, who had been under consideration for the Derby – and was the bubble horse, ranked 21st, following the Monday defections of Gronkowski and Quip – will be given a brief freshening, trainer Steve Asmussen said Wednesday.

Snapper Sinclair also had been strongly considered for the American Turf next week at Churchill Downs. But Asmussen said recent wet weather in Louisville had prevented him from training Snapper Sinclair to his satisfaction. Asmussen said he and Jeff Bloom, the managing partner of Bloom Racing, which owns Snapper Sinclair, decided to give Snapper Sinclair some time off.

“We’re going to give him a break,” Asmussen said. “Mother Nature is saying, ‘Quit it.’ ”

Blended Citizen now becomes the bubble horse. Next behind him would have been Reride, who also is trained by Asmussen, but Asmussen said Reride would not run in the Derby even if he can get in. He is a possibility, though, for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 19 at Pimlico.

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