Hovdey: Espinoza thinking encore

Victor Espinoza was on the Churchill Downs scene early Derby week, pressing the flesh and posing for pictures as fans did a double take and quickly figured out who he was.

“It was fun,” said Espinoza, who is never far from a camera-ready grin. “They all wanted to know about my Derby horse. Of course, I thought they meant American Pharoah, but they were talking about California Chrome.”

It must be a terrible burden to be in a position of such happy confusion. The images of Espinoza’s 2014 Derby victory aboard California Chrome remain vivid, and the colt’s exploits since then have done little to erase the glow. Now the page has turned, though, and Espinoza is right back in Louisville, firmly attached to a second straight Derby favorite who seems poised for a memorable performance of his own.

The contrast could not be sharper. At this time last year, California Chrome was a Derby interloper, a low-rent California-bred with a bad way of galloping who was roundly condemned by many pundits as too common for the task in spite of a four-race winning streak. That he was favored by the betting public proved just how gullible the public was, or how weak the rest of the field was on paper.

Then he won, and won again in Baltimore, taking the game along for a gloriously entertaining ride.

This time around, Espinoza is associated with a colt who has those same pundits drowning in their own saliva. American Pharoah is being hailed as nothing less than the second coming of Bucephalus, a regal steed destined for greatness beyond the mere confines of Saturday’s 141st running of the Kentucky Derby. Victory seems a foregone conclusion, the only question still up for grabs being how many of American Pharoah’s 19 opponents will give up halfway through the race and shuffle home, embarrassed that they even tried.

Espinoza concedes that anything can happen in a Kentucky Derby, and usually does. Yet American Pharoah tends to neutralize many of the ordinary concerns.

“Even as good as he was, with California Chrome, I still had a couple questions, especially if it rained,” Espinoza said. “With American Pharoah, I can’t think of any questions left except the distance, and they’re all running a mile and a quarter for the first time.”

Dating back to the Del Mar Futurity last September, Espinoza has ridden American Pharoah for Bob Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat four times and won four times, one of them over a wet track in the Rebel Stakes when the colt lost a shoe after a stumble at the start. American Pharoah’s reaction to that potential hiccup fueled Espinoza’s confidence even more.

“I believe he grabbed himself a little bit there at the start, but luckily it was only the shoe,” Espinoza said. “Most horses when that happens, you can feel something during the race, something not quite right. With him, I felt nothing different at all. I was really surprised when I saw what happened with the shoe. But those kind of things don’t matter to a horse like him. That’s why I have so much respect for him.”

Such poetry of motion and pure athleticism is the edge being given American Pharoah, even as the races stretch in distance. Espinoza finds joy in the way his colt has developed since his raw dismissal of the seven-furlong Futurity at Del Mar.

“Mentally, he is more professional, more focused,” the rider said. “The first time I rode him, he was still a baby. He wanted to do things his way. I had to encourage him to do things before he did it. Now I really don’t have to ask. He knows what to do.”

And that stride? The one that is making grown horsemen swoon?

“He just floats,” Espinoza said. “For a good-sized horse, it feels like he barely touches the ground.”

Espinoza, who turns 43 on May 23, could be accused of similarly floating through the past year. Before California Chrome entered his life, the native of Mexico City had enjoyed a successful career spiced with wins in the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness aboard War Emblem and an earlier Breeders’ Cup victory with Spain, along with a handful of Southern California riding championships.

The dozen months since California Chrome’s Derby have brought heady stuff for Espinoza and his agent, Brian Beach. Espinoza won a stakes race at Royal Ascot and shot the breeze with the queen. He won the 2014 ESPY Award as top jockey (while wearing a white dinner jacket to the party). When the Eclipse Awards for 2014 were announced this year, Espinoza’s name could be found as the regular rider for three champions, including American Pharoah and Horse of the Year California Chrome.

The banner season undoubtedly helped put Espinoza’s name on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot as one of four nominated jockeys. He did not make the final cut, but if that bothered Espinoza, he is hiding it well.

“No, I wasn’t disappointed,” Espinoza said. “It was my first time on the ballot, so that’s okay. Maybe voters need me to win another Kentucky Derby or two.”

In any other instance, this would sound like idle daydreaming. In Espinoza’s case, he expects American Pharoah to give him the kind of race that makes such dreams come true, even though consecutive Derby wins by a jockey is rare. In the history of the race, only Isaac Murphy (1890-91), Jimmy Winkfield (1901-02), Ron Turcotte (1972-73), Eddie Delahoussaye (1982-83), and Calvin Borel (2009-10) have turned the trick. That means Eddie Arcaro, Bill Hartack, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Laffit Pincay, Angel Cordero, and Bill Shoemaker did not.

“I am even more excited this year,” Espinoza said. “I mean, what are the odds, having a chance to ride the favorite for the Kentucky Derby back-to-back? And to come in with more confidence this year than last year is a very good feeling.”

The feeling is tempered by only one nagging thought, although it’s the kind of problem any jockey would love.

“American Pharoah been winning so easy that I really haven’t had a chance to push him, to see what he’s really got,” Espinoza said. “I know I ride him, but right now, I’m like everybody else. I don’t know how good he is.”