2015 Kentucky Derby
Grab your glad rags and pour a mint julep – Andrew Bon takes us to the Kentucky Derby
To live on in history, people and events need to be recorded somehow. They say history is written by the victors, but in my experience, winners are quite busy people who tend to rely on others to assimilate the details for posterity. With the demise of sages and other wise men, it seems to have fallen to journalists to be the modern auditors and recorders of history.
One of the great aspects of being a racing scribe is that not only do you get to meet and talk to some of racing’s greats first hand, but as in any business, you build up contacts and friendships with fellow writers, who by extension have met and talked to some of the greats you might not have got round to yet. Boring practicalities such as deadlines and budgets mean one can’t always get to all the things you’d like, and it is one of life’s pleasures to trade places every now and then and experience life as part of the audience. Fellow writers may afford you the chance to lean vicariously, and occasionally a little enviously, over their shoulders and experience events through their pens, but film media bring it to you in glorious technicolour.
See How They Run
Andrew Bon was one of the launching presenters of the aptly named ‘See How They Run’ with Clyde Basel and James Maphiri on SABC2 all the way back in 1988. Although most of us are familiar with him as a presenter, Andrew also does production work and is as comfortable behind the camera as in front of it. His tireless efforts have already seen him rewarded with two Equus Awards and he recently braved the mammoth journey to Louisville to document Mike de Kock’s historic attempt at the 141st Kentucky Derby.
Something Massive
Andrew Bon – have camera, will travel
When we catch up, Andrew is still battling jet lag and feverishly adding the final touches to his Kentucky Derby report. “It all came about 50m at the finishing line of the UAE Derby,” says Andrew. “I saw the exhibition of joy from Pat Cummings. When a horse wins that easily and has so much in the tank that the jockey is looking around for the opposition, you just know that this is something massive.”
A week later, he started canvassing getting proposals and finances. “I had instantaneous acceptance form Brian Joffe and Bidvest. I proposed the idea and he said ‘Absolutely, I’d love to support it. Just make sure you do a good job!’ Shortly thereafter I got a call from Dieter Wohlberg at Tellytrack, saying that the new head, Rob Scott, was interested in supporting me. If it wasn’t for that phone call, we would not have seen that race. Rob, being the passionate racing man that he is and knowing how hard it is to get a horse into a Group race, nevermind the Kentucky Derby, was determined that SA would see their flagbearer run and followed it right to the death. So with these two support structures and Pat Cummings facilitating my media accreditation as the sole South African TV media representative, I had to move heaven and earth to get my visa, but that, I’m pleased to say, is history!”
On Tuesday, 28 April, he boarded a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta alongside Mathew de Kock and a party of South African faithful. They landed in Atlanta with just 56 minutes to make their connecting flight. “To top it off, it was pouring with rain, but we arrived at Louisville to a glorious crisp autumn morning and immediately got the feeling that things were off to a good start.”
De Kock
“Mike’s previous experience in the US stood him in good stead and he handled all the fuss with aplomb. Over there it’s all about the horse and there’s huge public presence in the mornings. Every Derby runner has its own Sherriff and there are permanently three or four people making sure the horse is safe. There was a definite mystique about the African connection, but the fact that Mike has campaigned so extensively as well as having been to the USA before with the likes of Horse Chestnut and The Apache helped a lot, as did the fact that Pat Cummings works for Trackus. Having a well-established media persona working closely with Mike and disseminating information was fantastic and the public and media really took him and Mubtaahij to their hearts.”
2015 Kentucky Derby Draws
“The draw was held on Wednesday night. It was executed quite simply with a set of numbered balls which were drawn by the head of the Jockey Club and the numbers were all put up on a huge board. Mubtaahij was the 3rd last horse to be drawn. When his turn came, the remaining numbers were 1, 6 and 17. Christophe wanted anything between 1 and 7. The 1 draw is supposed to be kiss of death, so Mike was ecstatic when they drew 6 and the whole team was on a high, feeling that things were going the right way.”
Spectacle
Mike De Kock
“Thursday was the big morning as it was the final bit of work for the Derby. Mubtaahij was going to work first. You must understand that everyone has their horses at Churchill Downs. Although we were in a visitors barn, we weren’t in a quarantine facility like in Hong Kong or Dubai. We were right in the thick of things and were sharing a shed row with Frosted and Firing Line. There was a minimum of 10,000 people at every morning workout – the place was packed from the grandstand right up to the 2nd and 3rd level. Of course, it’s an entire week’s racing festival and with the Oaks on Friday, everybody was in town.”
“Mubtaahij was walked out onto the track at precisely 8:30 and taken by a lead pony to the chute. He just cantered around to stretch his legs and take it all in, came back and was groomed and taken care of. Mubtaahij had already prepped at Arlington Park in Chicago, so by the time they got to Churchill Downs, he was very fit and they didn’t want to do too much.”
In his post gallop interview, Christophe said ‘A lot of people are loving him here, because the challenge he’s trying to do is something great and rare.’ However, he made sure to add, ‘The challenge is coming, but we are dreaming with our eyes open.’ Andrew continues, “Mubtaahij was walking around the shed row while we were talking and every time they got to us, he’d stop and nudge Christophe. Christophe also seemed really interested in being around the horse, picking him grass and so on. It was not a case of just getting on and getting off after the race. Christophe wanted to get into a similar position as the UAE Derby and try and get cover and spent a whole day watching Kentucky Derby replays to study his draw and how each horse had performed from the no 6 gate. He adopted a really professional, scientific, diligent approach to it.”
“Friday was a day off, so I went exploring. Louisville is the home of KFC. It’s also the home of Mohammed Ali and has a museum dedicated to him. I wanted to be fresh and ready for Saturday, so I prepared my kit and had an early night.”
D-Day
Churchill Downs (photo: Andrew Bon)
“I left the hotel at 9am. The first race is off at 10:30 and I wanted to get people streaming into the track. It was everything they say and more. The media facilities alone were fantastic. There were 3 press rooms and must have been close to 2000 media on course. Canon sponsored the media tent and had stalls on site with staff and equipment to help troubleshoot if anyone needed help. Media actually sit on the racetrack – sometimes 2 deep – and not behind the rail like here, which is interesting, but everyone with media accreditation understands how to behave.”
“The public were very well informed and everyone knew the horses and the form. The authorities are very mindful of the fact that it is a horse race and really show the horses off to the public. There’s a pre-parade with all the horses and connections walking the length of the track. The saddling enclosure is right on the parade ring. They each have a really big box and the jockey mounts in the box, does one round of the parade ring and then out. It’s quite different to what we’re used to. There were 170,000 people on course and the sound of the crowd was so enormous I didn’t even get to hear My Old Kentucky Home.”
Impressions of the day
“Dortmund is as impressive as people said – if not more. He’s at least 17h and a really imposing, intimidating individual. Barry Irwin said he’s “got a kick and then another kick”, so you can imagine how good the other horses were. I cannot describe the noise when the gates opened. I don’t think I’ve heard anything like it in my life. Mubtaahij actually got a fright and didn’t get into the mix straight away. Even jumping from the 6 gate, he got kind of mugged. Because of the ferocity of the pace up front and the fact that he slipped coming out of the gate, Mubtaahij was never really able to get into the hunt. You could see half way through that at best he might get a place, so it was a case of trying to run a commendable race, which he did and beat more home than beat him.”
“American Pharoah travelled wide and got smacked 32 times, which has caused a lot of debate, but he was a massively popular winner and is being touted as one of the best we’ve seen. He put up the fastest pre-race gallop in 30 years – the clockers say they’ve never seen anything like it in living memory.”
Aftermath
There were still 2 or 3 more races and one started right in front of us like the J&B Reserve Stayers, but by then the adrenaline had really taken it out of you. However, it began to sink in that we’d just done pretty good. I interviewed Christophe, who had to catch a plane straight to ride at Chantilly the next day, and then interviewed Mike and Pat. Given the distance he travelled and the fact that he’s a late foal, there was general air of satisfaction and contentment about Mubtaahij’s performance. Even though we’d been beaten by a set of monsters in an extraordinary year, we were deeply satisfied that we’d been there.”
Does it live up to the hype?
“I’ve been doing the Dubai World Cup for 14 years; Royal Ascot is Royal Ascot – it’s special; but the highlight of my year is always the Investec Derby – it’s such a tradition and is so important to Investec. But other than the Derby and the QEII Cup in 1997, this is the most exciting racing assignment I’ve ever been on. It was completely unchartered territory and it was a huge privilege to be there and document this piece of history.” Following the Kentucky Derby, Andrew flew to Fairview for the EC Derby, before jetting off to Epsom. “You should call it ‘A Tale of Three Derbies – Louisville, Fairview and Epsom!” And so I did.
Proudly South African
Thank you to Mike and the team, but most especially to Mubtaahij for doing something great and rare and giving us the opportunity to dream with our eyes open. And thank you Andrew for recording it.
