Irap’s team could ride into history
Owner, trainer, jockey seek 3rd win since 2012
The link between trainer Doug O’Neill, owner Paul Reddam and jockey Mario Gutierrez will forever be defined by what they have accomplished at Churchill Downs, winning the Kentucky Derby as a team twice in the last five years.
But now, in perhaps the most unexpected way possible, they have a legitimate chance to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in horse racing in 65 years. With Irap, not only do O’Neill, Reddam and Gutierrez have a chance to go back-to-back after Nyquist’s triumph last year, but they also can win together for the third time, matching the powerful triumvirate of Calumet Farm, trainer Ben Jones and jockey Eddie Arcardo, who collaborated on Derby wins in 1941 (Whirlaway), 1948 (Citation) and 1952 (Hill Gail).
“It gives you goose bumps seeing your team talked about that way,” O’Neill said. “It would be pretty incredible if we got lucky on Saturday to be in with the likes of Calumet.”
By now, it’s more than just luck that has landed them in this position. With I’ll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist, the ReddamO’Neill team has proved to be adept at identifying talent in the auction ring (Doug O’Neill’s brother, Dennis, picked out both horses), translating it to the track and getting its horses to peak on Derby Day.
But with Irap, a 20-1 shot on the morning line after drawing the No. 9 post, it’s another quality — their willingness to roll the dice — that has given them a chance to win a third Derby.
Though Irap was a $300,000 yearling purchase — again, picked out by Dennis O’Neill — thanks to his strong breeding and impressive frame, Doug O’Neill did not consider him among the best 2-year-olds in his barn last fall.
Irap got his name from the IRAP joint therapy (Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Protein), which he was sent to the farm as a young horse to receive. The farm mistakenly thought Irap was his name and it stuck as somewhat of a running joke for Reddam and O’Neill. But until recently, Irap wasn’t much more than that.
“He was highly thought of, but as we were training him up to his debut, he sure acted like a horse that needed more time,” O’Neill said. “He wasn’t as precocious as our two Derby winners.”
Irap lost that first race and kept losing, even as his talent pushed O’Neill to try him in stakes company. In December’s Los Alamitos Futurity, he finished a good second to Mastery, who at the time was considered Bob Baffert’s top Derby prospect. In February, he finished second again in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.
Still, he hadn’t won. Trying to keep him more focused, O’Neill added blinkers for his start in the Sunland Derby on March 26. And when Irap finished fourth in that race — still a maiden after seven starts — that’s when conventional wisdom would have taken him off the Kentucky Derby trail and pointed toward easier races.
But with Gutierrez reporting that Irap had been bothered when a horse ran up on the outside of him, Reddam wanted to give him one more chance.
So 13 days later, they took the blinkers off, shipped him from New Mexico to Kentucky and ran in the Blue Grass Stakes. Irap won it in front-running style at 31-1 odds, and now here they are with a horse they think is peaking at the right time.
Though it might have been an unorthodox move to try the Blue Grass so quickly, it fit with Reddam’s willingness to go after big races, even with horses that sometimes don’t figure on paper.
“When you get a big, strong 3year-old that’s physically mature, it’s doable,” O’Neill said. “He came out of the (Sunland) race full of energy and got a beautiful trip, and when he called on him, he ran the race we kept dreaming he was going to run previously. Paul likes to take chances. He loves his horses, he loves the game and he’s OK with spending the money it takes to travel around and go after big races.”
Now O’Neill, whose operation is based in Southern California, has a legitimate chance to come to Kentucky and win the biggest prize in racing again. Irap has seemingly thrived physically in Kentucky and should be forwardly placed with his natural speed in a race that figures to have a more moderate pace than some Derbies.
“He’s got the right style, the right mind and the right body, and he’s doing really well right now,” O’Neill said.
And though there’s not nearly as much pressure as last year, when O’Neill carefully managed undefeated favorite Nyquist, he knows how unique it is to have another shot at the Derby with a team that has had quite a bit of good fortune in this race.
“It’s pretty incredible we were able to land on Team Reddam, that’s for sure,” O’Neill said. “You dream about (doing this every year), but you never think you’re going to get there. It’s a credit to the clients we have, especially Paul and Zillah Reddam. They make the whole game go.”