Baird's goal: Capture glory
KENTUCKY DERBY NOTEBOOK | Arlington just one of jockey's options
By dusk Saturday -- from Antigua to Assiniboia Downs and most posts in between -- Eddie Baird could be hailed as one of the most resourceful jockeys in thoroughbred racing.
He will guide the Louis Roussel long shot Recapturetheglory in the 134th Kentucky Derby. It is the first Derby mount for the 41-year-old northwest suburban native.
Win or lose, one constant is assured: Baird will remain one of the enduring free spirits in the game.
Asked Tuesday if he will return to ride at Arlington Park after his first Run for the Roses, Baird replied: ''I don't know. You know me -- I'll do whatever hits me at the time it hits me. I am riding [at Churchill Downs] Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then we'll see.
''Arlington is an option, but so is Monmouth [Park]. And Churchill is an option, too. I've tried six tracks or so since Arlington closed [last fall] and was fortunate to have some success at just about all of them, even Gulfstream. I like the different experiences.''
Monmouth, Baird added, ''is a big option.''
''The purses there are around $300,000-plus [daily] with an average [per race] of around $33,000,'' he said. ''That's enticing. But I've also been living out of a bag for six months, and that gets to be no fun. And I still have the house near Arlington. We'll just have to see where everything is after Saturday.''
Baird (Rolling Meadows High School, Class of '84) was brilliant in coaxing Recapturetheglory to a gate-to-wire score in the $500,000 Illinois Derby four weeks ago at Hawthorne. The colt paid $33.20 to win. The next afternoon, Baird won three races at Gulfstream.
Recapturetheglory, a son of Cherokee Run, is expected to go up at about 20-1 when post positions are drawn today (4 p.m., ESPN). The Illinois Derby victory was only the second of Recapturetheglory's career; he broke his maiden under Randy Meier last September, also at Hawthorne.
A full field of 20 is expected to draw in today as the final run-up to the $2 million Kentucky Derby begins. The Grade I classic has attracted fields of 20 the last three years, a span that has produced two come-from-behind winners (Giacomo, 2005; Street Sense, 2007) and one champion who stalked and pounced (Barbaro, 2006). Oddly enough, no starter from Posts 3, 4, 5 or 6 hit the board in those three races.
The probable morning-line favorite is Rick Dutrow's unbeaten Big Brown. The Florida Derby champion arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday and galloped 1½ miles in his first visit to the main course Tuesday morning.
''I feel very confident that if Big Brown breaks with the field, he's going to run a big race,'' said Dutrow, who will be saddling his first Derby starter. ''I just haven't seen any other horse that can beat him.''
The likely second pick in the opening line is Eoin Harty's Colonel John. The son of Tiznow left 'em gasping at the storied oval Sunday morning when he blasted five furlongs in 57.8 seconds. He has won his last two -- the Grade I Santa Anita Derby and the Grade III Sham -- and never has been worse than second in six career starts.
''He came out of that work in great shape, which was good to see,'' Harty said. ''That's what I was hoping to see.''
• • The line of the morning came from Ron Lamarque, the New Orleans car dealer who co-owns Recapturetheglory with Roussel. The rich, ribald rogues also owned Risen Star, a troubled third in the 1988 Derby before winning the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Asked how it felt to be back in the Bluegrass State with a Derby contender, the ebullient Lamarque deadpanned: ''Louisville is a wonderful place -- they should hold the Kentucky Derby here every year.''
