by Mark Paul
For liability reasons, Luis could not stay with her during the flight, as only the horse flight crew was allowed. He would be on the same flight, yes, but not with her in the holding stall. He saw the horse stalls being hydraulically lifted into the hold and he left to take his seat. He hated to leave her, even for a few hours.
As the plane took flight, Luis thought about how he drove an old unreliable pick-up truck, but the horses flew in new private jets. He was happy for her and would not have had it any other way.
Six hours later, after the flight and subsequent van ride, Luis led Winning Colors down the van ramp to her temporary stall at the historic Churchill Downs racetrack, in Louisville, Kentucky. Like all new horse arrivals from out of state, she would be quarantined for 48 hours in the barn stall area before being led to the special barn section reserved for the elite Derby contestants.
Miami and Dino met at their favorite Mexican restaurant for happy hour, just west of Santa Anita, and ordered a blended strawberry margarita for Dino and a Cadillac margarita on the rocks with salt, for Miami. They were not in joking moods and got right into a heated debate.
Miami wanted to go to Louisville to watch the race in person. “Hell, even if we lose, we will never in our lifetime have this moment at the Derby again,” he said. “Let’s ride it out in person and make a week out of it we’ll never forget! Come on Dino, it’s not a business, it’s a horse race!”
Dino waited for Miami to calm down and get some tequila in his bloodstream before responding. “Yes, it’s exciting and a chance of a lifetime, but it is a business for me, or at least I want it to be. I can’t be spending thousands of dollars partying with you in Kentucky, and then come home empty if she loses. If she wins this year, and we collect, I promise I’ll go next year with you. But for now, we need to treat this as a business. So, what’s the best way for us to get paid and not get mugged or worse?”
“I agree the safest day to collect is in TJ on Derby day, in person. I’ve never been to Agua Caliente on Derby day, but for sure it will be packed, and we have to be safer surrounded by thousands of people, right?” Miami sounded like he was still working to convince himself that it would be safe.
“Yes, I know it will be crowded, and we have to go there before we even know if she will be a winner. Damn, we are going to be depressed if she loses and we have to drive home with empty trash bags.”
“I’ll have to put you on suicide watch if that happens. OK, if we drive down on Derby Saturday, the race won’t go off until like 4:00 p.m. our time, and I know we will want to play the other Derby races. The card will be awesome with full horse fields and all that stupid money in the pools from people that bet on their favorite colors and shit. And I have to drive. Obviously, we can’t get in a cab with 250K on us!”
“There’s another problem. Amalia and I researched the border laws and we are not allowed to bring in more than $10,000 each without declaring it to US Customs.”
“Shit…now you tell me. Are we going to declare it? Then we would have to pay taxes! I’m not doing that!”
“I have a plan I’m thinking about. What if we pay say 23 guys to come with the two of us and they each carry back 10K? Or what if we have, say, eight guys, and we make three separate trips?”
“Who knew it was so hard to win a quarter of a million dollars? Now I know why Big Bernie is keeping the money down in Mexico. Can you imagine this discussion if we were talking four times that amount…hell, who are we kidding, that’s the greatest problem I ever heard of!”
Miami and Dino had two full plates of arroz con pollo, and steaming carnitas, with two more grande margaritas before coming to agreement to watch the Kentucky Derby live on TV in Mexico, at the track. Dino agreed to bring a suitcase and clothes bags for the cash and Miami would figure out the car insurance. They couldn’t agree whether to bring muscle with them in the form of other guys, or just risk the border crossing without declaring the money, but they were too clouded with tequila to complete the plan that evening.
Chapter 9
The Greatest Two Minutes
Louisville is horse country and it embraces everything associated with racing, from bourbon to gambling. The city is a throwback to a different, slower time. Think drinking a mint julep on a hot afternoon while watching horses race—it’s an art form to be savored and enjoyed.
For one May weekend each year, the jet set arrives a bit early in Louisville to transform the city into a place like Monte Carlo or Beverly Hills. The jets were pouring in as early as Wednesday and professional athletes were ready to party. NBA superstar Julius Erving (aka “Dr. J.”) was seen laughing with Jim Kelly, the star quarterback of the Buffalo Bills. Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers was present, along with Art Rooney, the legendary owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were wined and dined at the parties leading up to the big race. College basketball coach Bobby Knight of Indiana (famous for throwing a temper tantrum and a chair onto the court during a game in 1985) was friends with Lukas. He told the trainer, “You are so competitive that when you lose the race, you think you are going to win the replay.”
The week of the Kentucky Derby is frenetic in Louisville. The town pays respect to its racing history by nicknaming every bar, restaurant, street, and men’s room with a word or name related to horseracing. Wealthy locals entertain their transient, affluent guests at gala charity events and fashion shows. The public parties at the annual Great Steamboat Race, between The Belle of Louisville and The Delta Queen, held on the Wednesday before the Derby. Dozens of huge private parties lead up to race day, where movie stars mingle with politicians. The Kentucky Colonels Party draws 500 revelers for the event each year, with racing being secondary to drinking cocktails. The Derby fans’ activities and access to the pre-race festivities separates them by income level. Hotel rooms increase prices by over 500 percent.
Most of the Kentucky Derby attendees have no real interest in horseracing, or even gambling, but are there because, like the Super Bowl, it is a world-class party. The charity events are by invitation only, individual seats in the back of the ballroom begin at hundreds of dollars per ticket, and a well-located table of eight can be priced upwards of $10,000.
The richest people attending in 1988 were found at the elite, invitation-only party of Preston and Anita Madden. The Maddens’ parties had become legendary. Each year featured a theme. That year’s theme was Imperial Russia, featuring giant, Fabergé style eggs. Apparently, the years of Imperial Russia (1600-1900) featured hot women in sexy outfits, as the female attendees spent months preparing for the event and arrived in custom beaded gowns with plunging necklines, or for the younger set, mini dresses that left little to the imagination.
Annie Potts of the TV show Designing Women won the prize for hottest outfit of the night for her clinging black miniskirt. Queen of the 1988 event was Zsa Zsa Gabor, who at age 71 looked great in a pink gown, with five pounds of jewelry. The photographers and paparazzi abandoned her when the biggest star of the weekend arrived: Larry Hagman of the TV show Dallas. He was sporting a huge cowboy hat. Hollywood people seem to love athletes, and athletes seem to love hanging with the Hollywood people. The wealthy attendees mingled with singer Kenny Rogers, and former Miss Americas, Phyllis George and Mary Ann Mobley, who were there with their husbands.
The stamina a racehorse needs to run the Derby’s distance of one-and-one-quarter miles was rivaled by the partiers’ abilities to survive the Friday night soirées and still make the Derby the next day. Saturday, many in the same group appeared at the expensive Millionaires Row in the Turf Club of Churchill Downs for catered food and cocktails. The women were focused on their colorful hats instead of gowns and mini dresses. Tickets to the Millionaires Row event were nearly impossible to acquire without inside racing connections.
Derby day in Louisville is a special sporting event because of the gambling, yet the professionals who run most tracks act as if they would be shocked to learn gambling is occurring on the premises. Track professionals
never refer to their customers as gamblers, only as race fans. The average fan watching the NBA Finals, or Super Bowl, doesn’t really care who wins the game unless their local team is playing. The 150,000 Derby fans in attendance make significant bets for themselves and are fully engaged financially in the spectacle. Any gambler at the Derby will always remember if the horse they chose won.
The first time Miami attended the Kentucky Derby in 1984, he was shocked to see the size of the crowd on the Friday before the Saturday running of the Derby. The Friday feature is always the Kentucky Oaks, the 3-year-old, females-only rendition of the Kentucky Derby. Females could enter against the boys in the Kentucky Derby, but colts were not permitted in the Kentucky Oaks. When Miami attended the Oaks Friday races, he thought he had found paradise—full fields of top horses to wager on, and a party that wouldn’t stop. The Oaks Friday party featured a sophisticated crowd, with well-dressed men in sports coats, and many beautiful women dressed in stylish short dresses and heels.
The locals were there to party and could drink mint juleps and other hard liquor in impressive quantities, unlike the Los Angeles crowd he was used to (people who drank only white wine). Miami thought, Wow, if this is what it’s like the day before the Derby, what will the Derby be like?
Weather conditions on Derby day can be 40 degrees or 80 degrees, and the race is run even if it is pouring rain. Umbrellas are prohibited; only raincoats are permitted. On race day in 1984 at Churchill Downs, the temperature was 71 and the weather was cloudy. Miami arrived at the Derby in his best sports coat and a monogramed, custom-made shirt. He was disappointed to see a beer-drinking crowd that probably would have been more comfortable at a Cleveland Browns tailgating party, or a WrestleMania event. He learned that all the Kentucky social and professional elite attend only the Friday Kentucky Oaks day each year and leave the insane Kentucky Derby Saturday party to the amateurs. The elite have private parties with huge television screens at their homes.
The average total Derby day attendance at Churchill Downs is around 150,000 fans, with over 80,000 of the attendees in the infield where there is no seating and usually no view of the races at all. Miami noticed that the infield participants were there for partying and drinking, and they were damn good at it.
Entertainment in the infield featured rock bands and mosh pits, but few restrooms. The rest of the racetrack was pleasant to experience that Derby day, despite the crowds, as Churchill Downs learned, in over 100-plus years, how to properly run a huge event.
The track has enough ticket vendors to allow bettors to wager, enough bars for anyone to get a drink, and enough TV screens to watch the odds and races. Days like this were made for knowledgeable handicappers like Dino, Miami, and Big Bernie. The betting pools were huge, and the bettors mostly unsophisticated. The chance for a big score was exciting. Because many of the professional horse gamblers’ best days for profits come on the days of big races, Miami and Dino would bet five times as much as they would during the running of an average race card.
Lukas, Klein, and Stevens had met in the late afternoon the week of the 1988 Derby and discussed their plans for handling the negative comments about their female’s chances in the race.
Lukas told them, “Let’s let them talk all the negative crap they want about her. Let’s not let them know what we have in our girl. Maybe…just maybe…they will underestimate her and let us get an uncontested early lead.”
Stevens nodded in agreement and said, “The biggest knock I hear from the jockeys is they don’t think she can go the one-and-one-quarter mile distance. They think she’ll tire and quit.”
“Good. Let them think that…because if she gets an easy early lead she will kick their asses!” said Klein.
They all were feeling confident but agreed to just keep quiet.
The family of Gary Stevens had been to his first Kentucky Derby ride in 1985. His dad told him, “I don’t ever want to go back…too crowded and uncomfortable.”
However, in 1988, Gary told his entire family, “You have to come to this year’s race. I’m going to win it.”
So, they booked their tickets and hotels.
Jeff Lukas had planned the details of Winning Colors’ pre-race day. After a light jog around the track and her usual warm sponge bath, he took the halter away from Luis. Winning Colors was going to have a special treat—a slow walk, so she could graze on fresh grass along the road near the stable area. He thought it would calm and relax her. An accomplished horseman, Lukas kept his hands firmly on her halter lead while she put her head down to graze, happy to be out of her enclosed stall.
What happened next was a surprise.
A motorcycle went by on the road and backfired with a loud pop, just feet from her head. Startled, she bolted away from the frightening noise. Lukas was pulled off his feet by the 1,200-pound animal. He held on for his life as she careened toward the stable that was brimming with trucks, equipment, and other horses. His knees and elbows were torn up and bleeding as she dragged him, but he would not let go, fearing her start in the Derby would end in tragedy before her race. After he got her to pull up, he searched her body with his hands, feeling for a bump, cut, or signs of blood.
Unlike Lukas, she was no worse for the wear. He limped her back to Luis who grabbed her halter. Luis called for help for Jeff then took the horse back to her stall where he further inspected her head to toe, no injuries.
An assistant trainer who had witnessed the frightened horse drag Jeff around like a piece of meat and told other backstretch workers, “It took incredible guts for Jeff to hang on to her. Her Derby and career could have ended this morning.”
That night, Luis slept just outside of her stall in case she had any issues during the night.
Dino and Miami had taken great interest in the Friday running of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, because the only horse to have beaten Winning Colors, Goodbye Halo, was the favorite. If Goodbye Halo lost to the top field of fillies, it would reflect negatively on the quality of Winning Colors.
During the Oaks race, they witnessed the exact opposite.
Goodbye Halo had been bet down to odds on, and when the gates opened, she devastated the other runners in the field by three-and-three-quarters lengths. The purse for the female race was only $242,600, compared to the purse for the Kentucky Derby the next day of $786,200. Considering that Winning Colors beat Goodbye Halo by over nine lengths in their last meeting at Santa Anita, it made Dino and Miami even more confident of Winning Colors’ talent. They were having trouble concentrating on betting the races that weekend; the chance of winning $250,000 on Winning Colors was their sole focus.
Well, that and staying alive to enjoy the money.
The morning of the Derby saw fans lining up to get in at 6:00 a.m., with the largest attendance of women the track had ever experienced. It’s possible that every woman in America was rooting for Winning Colors. Interest in and viewership of this race was way up because of the gray filly.
The Kentucky Derby was the eighth race on the Saturday card, which was fortunate for the revelers from the Friday night parties that ended after two a.m. The TV station NBC had their “A Team” of broadcasters on hand for feature interviews with Eugene and Joyce Klein, Gary Stevens, and D. Wayne Lukas.
Lukas was dressed to perfection in a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie, but acted less brash than normal when he said into the camera, “Given all the things that can happen, and especially the setbacks I’ve experienced in the Derby, I want to fall head over heels, but I am a little bit guarded. If she wins I’ll be won over completely…if she goes to the front on her own easily. Hopefully, we will get a Hollywood ending today.”
At approximately five p.m., the trainers and handlers led the Derby horses from the barn to the saddling arena. Many of the owners also made the long walk in the dirt with their horses. The owners knew this event was truly the chance of a lifetime, and they were blessed in a special way to make the historic walk with a talented horse.
Winning Color
s was disinterested in the crowd and the noise level but was open to biting other horses when the opportunity presented itself. She pranced around and occasionally darted at the colts. She was calm and steady, with her head held high as Luis led her to the saddling arena. The Derby crowd was so much louder than anything these horses had experienced in their short careers. There is always a risk that the high-strung horses might become so agitated from the commotion they’d waste energy, and not run their best race.
The owners and the trainers know that the single racing question they will always be asked is, “Did you ever win the Derby?” Lukas had entered 12 other horses and had never won, despite winning nearly every other stakes race. Despite his leadership in the national earnings stats, his lack of success in the Derby bothered him.
Woody Stephens, trainer of Forty Niner, also bothered him. Woody was a Hall of Fame trainer and was at an age where he said whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He’d said to the press, “Winning Colors does not belong in the Derby and will not win the race.”
Lukas would not be bullied and responded to Woody’s comment: “I don’t expect Forty Niner to be able to handle the Derby distance.”
Their dislike of each other was real.
Back in Los Angeles, Miami conceded to Dino and agreed to go to Agua Caliente to watch the race on the Tijuana track’s television screens during the Kentucky Derby. If Winning Colors won, they’d cash the bet and get the hell out of Mexico fast and alive. They still couldn’t decide if they would declare their winnings at the border. They’d agreed to make the decision last minute on the way from the track back to the US Customs station.
The night before the Derby, Miami made what he thought was a good suggestion to Dino: “Let’s take two cars. If one of us gets stopped, we won’t lose all the money. Just half.”