Lone Sailor gives Graham long-awaited shot at Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Over a 15-year career than has encompassed over 17,000 rides, jockey James Graham has experienced most everything on horseback – except riding in the Kentucky Derby. That gap in his resume will come to the end Saturday when he pilots longshot Lone Sailor.
Graham, a 38-year-old Ireland native, doesn’t claim to be nervous, but acknowledges that he could be as the race gets closer. But ask him a few questions about the Derby or about Lone Sailor, and it is clear the race occupies his thoughts. This is, naturally, the race that everyone that participates in horse racing wants to win, and he believes his mount just might have a chance to upset.
Already encouraged by the improvement displayed by Lone Sailor in finishing second to Noble Indy in the Louisiana Derby, Graham has been further encouraged by how the colt has trained leading up to the race. Lone Sailor has recorded three quick workouts over the Churchill Downs surface, including a five-furlong breeze April 19 in 57.60 seconds – by far the fastest work at that distance of any Derby competitor.
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The work came over a strip that played much faster than typical for Churchill Downs, and Graham said he was pleased with the manner the colt worked. Lone Sailor swallowed up company that provided him with an early target, and finished with focus – something the colt seemingly lost after surging to the lead in early stretch of the Louisiana Derby. That day he quickly advanced from sixth on the turn to first just inside the stretch. He moved past Noble Indy before drifting all over the racetrack, providing his rival with the opportunity come back and edge him by a neck.
“He got there so quickly, he went, ‘Oh! Oh, I am supposed to be here?’” Graham said. “And then when he fell back down to the other horse you can visually see – when I brought him back down to meet the other horse – he started running again.”
Knowing what occurred in the Louisiana Derby, Graham seems likely to wait as long as possible to make his move in the Derby. He said the Derby appears to be made up of “90 percent” speed horses.
Going into this first Derby ride, he said he is looking up to Calvin Borel, a three-time Derby-winning rider, for his inspiration. Upon hearing this, Lone Sailor’s trainer, Tom Amoss, chimed in with some early Derby riding instructions for Graham. “We need a Mine That Bird trip, by the way,” he said.
Mine That Bird, the 50-1 winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby, rallied from last along the rail under Borel.
Amoss, is realistic in accessing his horse’s prospects. He is approaching this year’s Kentucky Derby pleased with Lone Sailor while acknowledging the challenging task ahead. Having run five horses in the Derby, with his best finish coming in 2013 with fifth-place Mylute, he knows how difficult it is for a horse to contend, let alone win.
“He’s got a license to improve,” he said of Lone Sailor. “Having said all that, he has got to improve. If he doesn’t run any better than he did in the Louisiana Derby, he’s an also-ran. There is no shame in that. He’s earned his way into the Derby, as many have, but to be a contender, he has got to step up again. And we think he has a good chance to do that.”
A son of Majestic Warrior owned by G M B racing, Lone Sailor was assigned post 8 for at Tuesday’s post-position draw. He was pegged at 50-1 odds by morning-line oddsmaker Mike Battaglia.