At the century and a half under his belt, the Kentucky Derby (G1) deserved its status as the most vital race in the American thoroughbred calendar. With the thrill of victory, prestige, fame and happiness come.
This assets not only appear from the $ 5 million money exchanges, which the 1 1/4 miles race offer 3.1 million US dollars received to the winner-but also from the escalate in value that the winner receives as a stallion view.
Nineteen 3-year-olds will be followed in such a way that this is guaranteed when the Churchill Downs The starting gate will open on May 3rd, but it is a future that is impossible for the 20th place: the gelding Burnham Square .
So why a horse on the way to the Kentucky Derby Shake if the race would escalate its value?
“To have a stallion option, you first have to have a racehorse,” said Clay Whitham, who is connected to his mother Janis. “If he can't go to the races and be successful, he would never make a stallion career at all.”
If the Burnham Square had never been amusing, it is very likely that the son is very likely Liams card Had a winner of class 1 in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) or would have exceeded the Kentucky Derby ranking with 130 qualification points.
“He would not be where he is today if he were a stallion foal,” said his coach Ian Wilkes.
The Burnham Square was sent to Florida together with all Whitham full blood junior and showed a lack of focus in the early break process.
“The assessment was that he was a little hard to handle,” said Whitham. “He would not be careful and learn his lessons to get him routine with humans and go on the track.”
“It's all on the individual. They are still for the horse for a certain reason,” said Wilkes. “Perhaps they will develop and become too hard. They have to align them with a fraction. Or they do not develop or maybe it is the attitude – apart. They do not want someone to be injured and some of these colts are hard to apply and have to be transferred with Gelland.”
Some of these early restlessness might come from the dam, Linda . Linda, a Homebred for the Whithams, just like Burnham Square, showed her talent with a win in Ms. Revere Stakes (G2T) and four tiered placements. However, she could be tough for the drivers, Wilkes remembered her when she drove away with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
“Some would say that she had a grumpy attitude,” said Whitham.
Clay Whitham goes to Linda to the circle of the winner after 2016 Mrs. Revere Stakes in Churchill Downs
Linda was a good producer with daughters English charm And Lindsey and son hatch All are five times winners. However, none of the three had ever come close to the success of the mission – another reason why Burnham Square in the breeding scale looked as a unruly newborn.
“You look at his family tree and you look at him, he is not a stuck horse,” said Wilkes. “Even if this horse won the derby, I don't think it would be a stallion.”
This decision was the right call. A few weeks after his gelding, Burnham Square showed an improvement in his behavior.
“He was a better student and started learning his lessons and started to participate. We have had no problem with him since then,” said Whitham.
Even as a gelding, Burnham Square still shows signs of his mighty personality. However, he has changed with the age and its equipment and reacts more to his drivers.
“He becomes aggressive, he has to train,” said Mark Cutler's exercise rider. “When he has one day off, he starts to step on the stand and makes my job hard. He wants to train too challenging. As long as we keep it up, he is elated.”
Now Burnham Square knocks on the door of the story. The connections show no signs of regret.
“This is what is great about the (Whitham) family, she doesn't appreciate anything in the second class,” said Wilkes. “They love races.”
Walldings in the derby
Understandably, the Kentucky Derby was dominated by Colts in its 151 years. However, it is not uncommon for moneying to be seen in the race, most of which were probably only able to qualify thanks to the gelding process like Burnham Square.
“With our horse, like him and his family tree, he didn't have to be a stallion foal,” said Wilkes. “All of these others, they have to give them a shot to be a stallion because they can make a lot of money. Most of them who run as colts in the derby is their family tree.”
The Burnham Square will be the 136th gelding, which takes part in the derby and two derbies in a row marked with a gelding afterwards Society man ran in 2024 16. Mine this bird 2009.
The success for moneying comes from the very first gelding, which in the derby, Vagrant, took home the price of $ 2,950 in the second run of the race in 1876. Until 1888, moneyings had gone after the victories of Apollo (1882) and Macbeth II (1888) 3- against 10. A gelding would only win the derby again in the 1910s when the future Hall of Famers Aged Rosebud (1914) and exterminator (1918) wore the roses. Paul Jones would follow in 1920.
The victory of Clyde van Dusen in 1929 started a long 74-year-old drought for moneyings until the amusing cide “MutSy Wallach” finally broke through in 2003.
Humorous Cide's career stretched into his 7-year season and achieved his career with a victory in Finger Lakes' 2007 Wadsworth Memorial Handicap and a career record of 11-6-8 of 38 starts for $ 3,529,412.
Humorous Cide wins the 2003 Kentucky Derby in Churchill Downs
Hopes for a long career
This is the advantage that a gelding has so early on the top level: the potential of a long and successful racing career at a time when his stars quickly retire after a few wins at the highest level. This pressure is not there for Burnham Square.
“We are all confident that he can make a long racing career,” said Whitham. “We look out there and think when he can continue what he is doing and show the talent that he has, we would like to see how he runs with 4 and 5.”
When Humorous Cide retired, he had a massive fan base and took off in the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington so that they could visit him. Should the Burnham Square be continued on its current path, it could be a place like the first derby starter of Whitham, a place like Aged Friends Farm near Georgetown, Ky. Mccrac .
“He is already a winner in class 1, he has achieved a lot,” said Whitham. “For such a horse that has and is recognized, a place like vintage friends would be fantastic.”
