Win Win Win takes Trombetta to his second Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – But for a desperate lunge and the bob of a nose, Mike Trombetta wouldn’t even be here at Churchill Downs this week.

“I’d be back home in Maryland getting this horse ready for the Preakness,” said the 52-year-old trainer of Kentucky Derby starter Win Win Win.

Funny how these things work in racing. Win Win Win was up in the last jump to get second from Signalman in the April 6 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, giving Win Win Win a sufficient number of qualifying points to make the 20-horse cutoff for the 145th Derby. In turn, Signalman was relegated to the alternates list by finishing third.

“We’d like to think we have plans and we can control things,” said Trombetta, “but any of us that have done this long enough know that a lot of it’s out of our hands.”

Indeed, fate has played a major role in getting Trombetta back to the Kentucky Derby, where his lone prior appearance came 13 years ago when he sent out the surprise lukewarm favorite, Sweetnorthernsaint, to a seventh-place finish behind Barbaro. Trombetta said he feels extremely fortunate to be here with a homebred for the Live Oak Plantation of Charlotte Weber, the Campbell’s Soup heiress who has become a leading figure in American breeding and racing.

“Mrs. Weber ‘gets it,’ big-time,” said Trombetta. “She knows this business inside and out. She’s very patient and understanding and cares tremendously for her horses. It’s a great honor to represent her in the Kentucky Derby, that’s for sure.”

“I jumped into this early,” he said. “I didn’t just walk into a stable and say, ‘Here we are!’ Once I started to get support, over time, my business grew very slowly. It takes a while. Owners have a million choices, and the new guy on the block is usually way down the list.”

Trombetta’s career hit a major growth spurt in the mid-2000s, spurred in part by the national attention he drew with Sweetnorthernsaint. Since 2007, having become a major player in the Mid-Atlantic, he has averaged more than 100 winners a year, and entered this week with career totals of 1,745 wins and more than $54 million in stable earnings.

Win Win Win, a nearly black Florida-bred by Hat Trick, has never run a bad race in six starts. After three encouraging efforts in Laurel Park sprints, the colt earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure while setting a track record for seven furlongs (1:20.89) in the Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 19. All four of those races came with Julian Pimentel aboard.

It was the next two starts for Win Win Win – both in longer races, with champion jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. riding, and with less-than-ideal trips while facing much better company – that convinced Trombetta he had a legitimate Derby horse on his shed row. Win Win Win was third in the March 9 Tampa Bay Derby won by Tacitus, then a hard-closing second behind Vekoma in the Blue Grass.

“I might’ve thought initially he was just a sprinter and that maybe he’d even be more effective on the grass,” said Trombetta, who about 12 years ago developed a condition known as alopecia areata, whereby he lost all his body hair, including his eyebrows and eyelashes.

“But as we went along, the colt just kept surprising me, kept showing new dimensions. Clearly, he has a great turn of speed, but he’s also learned how to settle himself to run when he’s asked. We’ve asked him to handle more distance, and he keeps coming at the end.

“The mile and a quarter of the Derby is a whole new deal, but everybody’s in that same boat, right? I’ve been saying, ‘They keep moving the goalposts farther down the field,’ and the colt keeps acting like he wants it.”

Win Win Win has not been away particularly well from the gate in recent starts, and Trombetta said he and Pimentel – who regained the mount when Ortiz opted instead to ride Improbable – are keenly aware that a sharper break would aid his chances.

“We obviously would like to grab at least a reasonable spot, although guess what, so would everybody else,” said Trombetta. “With this guy, I’m not worried about where he’s got to run from. I just hope we’re fortunate enough to get away in a position that the rider is comfortable and can make some good decisions.”

Trombetta and his wife of 30 years, Marie, have three children: Nicole, 25; Michael, who turns 15 Sunday; and Dominic, 13. All will be on hand Saturday, along with Trombetta’s dad, now 85. His mother, Rose, will be watching from the family home in Fork, Md.

“It goes without saying that the Derby is every trainer’s dream,” said Trombetta. “To actually win it would be unbelievable.”