Derby-winning trainer Combs sends out just third starter of year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Don Combs, undoubtedly the most obscure surviving Kentucky Derby-winning trainer, will have just his third starter of the year when sending out longshot Colt Weston in the third race Sunday. Based at the nearby Thoroughbred Center training venue, the 75-year-old Combs has won 14 races since 2006 with his small stable.

Combs won the 1970 Derby with Dust Commander. In 2010, on the 40th anniversary of the colt’s upset, he told Daily Racing Form : “I’m really proud of winning the Derby. It’s very important to me. But I went a lot of years without it ever being mentioned at all, and I’ve always been fine with that.”

** On Sunday, Golden Soul will make his 11th start since finishing second at 34-1 behind Orb in the 2013 Kentucky Derby. He is one of the longer shots in the 10th and last race, a first-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The best finish the 4-year-old colt has mustered in 10 post-Derby attempts is a distant third.

** Keeneland has reported the death of Gaston Galjour, a true pioneer in the niche business of racetrack video and sound. Galjour, 84, died Sept. 25 in his hometown of Metairie, La. Among his many hires is Glenn Gremillion, who has overseen video production at Keeneland and Fair Grounds for many years after starting under Galjour in 1972.