Materiality looking to overcome 'Rule of 2'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – “Rules were made to be broken.”

“There’s an exception to every rule.”

In the cliché handbook, phrases about rules aim at a demonstration of their flimsiness.

But in the Kentucky Derby, one rule approaches the status of founding principle: To win, a horse must have started as a 2-year-old.

It has been 133 years since Apollo upset the 1882 Derby. He is the last unraced 2-year-old to wear roses. Since then, 58 such horses have run in the Derby: three finished second, four third.

The horse wearing the albatross this year is a good one, Materiality, the undefeated winner of the Florida Derby. Materiality raced for the first time Jan. 11. Had he run less than two weeks earlier, Materiality, by this nearly immutable rule, would be eligible to win the Derby. That makes the rule’s line of demarcation Jan. 1 – the official birthday of all Thoroughbreds – seem arbitrary, but the rule has sound underpinnings.

“Education and foundation – those are the important things that happen as a 2-year-old,” said Materiality’s trainer, Todd Pletcher.

Materiality, a son of Afleet Alex, got some of both long before he raced. A $260,000 yearling buy, he was resold for $400,000 last May 16 as a 2-year-old in training at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale. Pletcher said going through a breeze-up sale might better position a horse to break the Derby 2-year-old rule. Just to make the sale requires a certain amount of education and foundation.

After being purchased by Alto Racing, Materiality was shipped to WinStar Farm in Kentucky, was let down a bit, and went into light training there over the summer. Pletcher said Materiality arrived Oct. 11 at his Palm Beach Downs base. His first breeze came Oct. 25, and Materiality has gone steadily since, but is it too little, too late?

Fusaichi Pegasus won the 2000 Derby despite not racing until Dec. 11, but his was the latest debut date of a recent winner. Smarty Jones debuted Nov. 9 and won the 2004 Derby. Monarchos (2001), War Emblem (2002), and Barbaro (2006) debuted in October, but most typical for a Derby winner is an August or September debut. Last year’s winner, California Chrome, was radical in his own way, first starting way back in April 2013.

Bodemeister, second in 2012, debuted Jan. 16, and Curlin, third in 2007, first started Feb. 3. Is Materiality a horse of that quality? Perhaps. But even if he is, the Rule of 2 says it might not matter.