(This year we’re keeping our late January list of 100 horses to watch for the Kentucky Derby updated online, not that it’s going to stay at 100. Check it out. While you’re at it, here are the BRIS past performances for the 414 Triple Crown nominees.)
(At left: Gary Stevens aboard Candy Boy after winning the Bob Lewis. Benoit Photo.)
If there were an Eclipse Award for quote-ability, jockey Gary Stevens might win every year. I was thinking that while writing this week’s edition of Kentucky Derby update and trying to decide which of the treasure trove of sentences/paragraphs to include from a 10-minute phone interview. But the great thing about online is there is no space limitation. So here is most of the interview (and among the things we learn: Bayern is named for FC Bayern, the professional soccer club in Munich):
I started by asking Stevens about calling Candy Boy “the No. 1 draft choice for me” after winning Saturday’s Robert B. Lewis:
Stevens: “It’s still very early in there. He’s a very, very good colt. I’m riding some other good colts as well. But he showed up and did what I expected him to do, and then some. He gives me a feeling that only one 3-year-old, this time of year has given me. And that was (2001 Horse of the Year) Point Given. It was that kind of performance.
“He’s a very intelligent colt. I rode him bad in the CashCall Futurity. I knew it midway through the race, but there wasn’t a lot I could do at that time. I asked John (Sadler) the morning after if he’d mind if I worked him so I could get more acquainted with him and he could get more acquainted with me.
“He’s had a really good two months. John hasn’t twisted or squeezed on him, nor have I. He’s done everything on his own as a progression. That’s pretty much how the race was the other day. I hit the finish line and right away you start thinking about things: ‘Is he going to run him back in the race next month, give another race before the Santa Anita Derby? Well, I’m going to make sure that we get a mile and an eighth today.’ When we hit the finish line, I made him gallop out a good mile and an eighth. He actually galloped out a pretty good mile and a quarter.
“I went back to the barn after the races and he was out on the toe ring being walked and they had a lip chain on him. Obviously he was within himself. It was a nice run. Obviously he has a little bit of greenness, wants to lean in just a little bit through the stretch. But he’s overcoming that. Every week leading up to this race was better than the week before, which surprises me. And that’s a good feeling. He’s carrying a lot of flesh. I watch him gallop every day, and he’s fun to ride.
“… A lot of Candy Rides are shorter and stocky-type horses. I don’t mean that as an insult. They’re a little more Quarter Horse-looking, blockier. He’s built like Point Given. He carries a lot of height to him, but he’s wide, too. Got a big shoulder on him, a big rear end. And he’s got really clean action. He’s super smooth, sitting on his back. When we were going down the backside, it felt like we’d gone 25 and 50. I knew (that) he’s going about 2 ½ seconds faster than what it feels like — and doing it with ease. You saw the way I was sitting on him around the turn, that’s a pretty good feeling: When you’re running against those kinds of horses and you know you’re loaded from the three-eighths pole and it’s just a matter of when you want to pull the trigger.
“If I’d have started (asking) him at the three-eighths pole, I imagine he’d have won by quite a bit. But there was no sense in squeezing one right now. With these young horses, I think it’s important for them to have a target. He didn’t need to win by any more than what he won by. It wasn’t the Derby.”
(Asked to elaborate on how Candy Boy gives him the same feeling as Point Given): “Just the feeling of confidence that he gave me. Once we got into the backstretch, I never felt in danger. I felt like he owned the race – believe it or not – at the five-eighths pole. What I liked the other day is the way he jumped up underneath me, immediately, going into the first turn. He was very comfortable and confident throughout. And that gave me a lot of confidence.”
(On his other 3-year-olds) “I ride a colt for Bob (Baffert) Thursday who is a good horse. I mean very, very good: Bayern – the horse Kaleem Shah owns that was named for the German soccer club. You can never have too many (Derby prospects). Bob was just saying, ‘There’s no sense in worrying about riders now. If you’ve got a good horse, you’re going to wind up with a good rider.’ That’s how I feel about it too.
“When I say Candy Boy is my No. 1 draft choice, I’m saying it for a reason, because he’s already proven. I mean, running second in the CashCall Futurity (behind champion Shared Belief). I’m not saying I’d have beaten Shared Belief, but I was looking forward to a rematch with him. This horse, since we’ve gotten him on the dirt, he gives me a different feeling than he did in the CashCall Futurity. He feels much better to me on dirt than the synthetic.”
(Thoughts on Lewis second-place Chitu and third-place Midnight Hawk): “Chitu, for him to run second off a six-furlong win that was extremely quick, and to stretch out to two turns and be able to rate pretty comfortably with reasonable fractions and finish up the way he did, he’s going to improve. He’s going to be dangerous. He’s the real deal. Believe me, that horse will improve, too. He’s a good horse, and Midnight Hawk is to. From what I’ve seen of Midnight Hawk, he’s kind of his own worst enemy still. He wants to show a lot of speed. He looked like he was a little bit rank with Mike (Smith) around the first turn, and he had to get him out of the pocket and was wide because of it.
“Those are two horses I definitely wouldn’t count out.”
(Can he top last year, when he won the Preakness, Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Breeders’ Cup Classic after coming back from a seven-year retirement?):
“I should. Because at this time last year I’d just won my first stakes race, it would have been last weekend, since I came back. I remember sitting in the jocks’ room last year when they ran the Bob Lewis. And I’m thinking, ‘Man, I wonder if I’ll ever have another Derby horse?’ Then I get to wind up riding (Preakness winner) Oxbow. But sitting here in your own backyard and watching these horses, I’ve got a lot of good horses I’m riding right now: (his 2-year-old filly champion) She’s a Tiger just galloped by me, and (his 3-year-old filly champ) Beholder just galloped by me. So I’m in a way better position than I was this time last year. Like I say, every day I ride is a gift, so I try not to look too far forward. But I’m having a blast right now.”
