O'Donohoe hoping Thunder Snow makes new Derby memories for him

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Just before 8:30 Tuesday morning on the Churchill Downs backstretch, Daragh O’Donohoe got a leg up on Thunder Snow and headed toward the main gap near the five-furlong marker and out onto Churchill’s racing oval. For Thunder Snow, who won the UAE Derby at Meydan Racecourse in his most-recent start and traveled here after a short stop in England, it was his first time stepping onto the Churchill surface as he prepares for the Kentucky Derby. For O’Donohoe, it was a trip down memory lane.

O’Donohoe is at Churchill for the first time in 18 years. In 1999, he traveled here for Godolphin, Thunder Snow’s owner, and rode the eventual Derby seventh-place finisher Worldly Manner during the colt’s morning training. But Godolphin had a second intended Derby runner that year, Aljabr, and O’Donohoe, had been booked as his Derby jockey.

“Unfortunately, the morning of the Kentucky Derby he went lame,” said O’Donohoe, who retired from his career as a jockey about 1 1/2 years ago. “It was quite an emotional day for me because I gave him actually a really good shout in the race. He went back after that and won three Group 1’s. That’s the life of a jockey.”

O’Donohoe has worked for Godolphin ever since, and he has been Thunder Snow’s exercise rider all along. The colt was among the best 2-year-olds in Europe last season, winning the Group 1 Criterium International at the end of his season, and he flourished moving from turf to dirt this winter in Dubai, where he captured the UAE 2000 Guineas before overcoming his own greenness to win the UAE Derby.

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While O’Donohoe knew what to expect Tuesday when Thunder Snow was released from quarantine and allowed out of the stakes barn for the first time since arriving Sunday, the experience was all new for Thunder Snow. The colt had trained only at Godolphin’s private yard in England and at its Al Quoz training center in Dubai. Suffice it to say there are not throngs of curious onlookers lining the horse paths and hanging on the rail at those serene venues.

“He’s never had people so close around, and that’s the first time he’s been with a pony as well, so he was a bit cautious of all that,” O’Donohoe said. “It was a good learning experience for him.”

Thunder Snow, however, took everything in stride. “He’s got a very high recovery rate, this horse, and there’s not a lot that actually fazes him,” said O’Donohoe. “He was very professional out on the track; I was surprised. His behavior this morning was especially good. He felt good; he floated over the track. I’ve no faults on him this morning. He moved well, he’s breathing well, and he’s changing his leads at the proper times on the bends.”

Thunder Snow’s trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, was expected to arrive in Louisville from England later Tuesday. The colt made the same trip last weekend after spending six days in England after arriving from Dubai. O’Donohoe said Thunder Snow has taken all his travel well, and that all signs point to a representative showing Saturday. O’Donohoe will be watching the Derby from the stands, just like he did 18 years ago, only this time, his function as a spectator, not a participant, will have been planned all along.