USA TODAY US Edition

OFF TO THE RACES

Horse gives trainer, 32, owner, 37, shot at glory

- Dan Wolken dwolken@usatoday.com USA TODAY Sports LOUISVILLE

All eyes on Classic Empire at the Kentucky

Derby and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at GEICO 500

Joe Sharp, the 32year-old trainer of Girvin, isn’t nervous about saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter Saturday. For the last couple of weeks, he simply hasn’t had time to think about anything other than his horse’s right front hoof.

The discovery of a quarter crack that was bothering Girvin threatened to end Sharp’s Derby before it really began. But since then, intensive treatment including a fiberglass patch, three trips to the equine swimming pool, a hyperbaric chamber and custom horseshoes has allowed Sharp to move forward with Girvin, who is 3-for-4 in his career, including a victory in the April 1 Louisiana Derby.

“Every day it just gets better and better,” Sharp said. “As his trainer, being around him every

day, we wouldn’t run him if we didn’t think he had a shot to run a winning race. I don’t think his effort here will be hindered.”

The drama surroundin­g Girvin started to bubble when Sharp moved the horse from Churchill Downs to Keeneland to train, then postponed a scheduled workout April 24, at which point Sharp finally revealed the quarter crack issue publicly.

In human terms, a quarter crack is akin to a fingernail that splits down to the cuticle — not serious but painful, especially when a horse bears weight on that foot during any movements. With only two weeks to prepare for the Derby, any loss of fitness while waiting for the crack to heal could seriously compromise the horse’s chances to win.

After putting Girvin under the care of hoof specialist Raul Bras and using the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilita­tion Center for swimming rather than traditiona­l gallops, Sharp and owner Brad Grady maintain that the quarter crack is no longer an issue. Girvin, in fact, looked fine on the racetrack Thursday morning and has been changed into regular glue-on shoes for the race.

But the injury has taken away from one of the most interestin­g story lines in the race, as Girvin has brought his young trainer and 37-year-old owner to the Derby astonishin­gly early in their careers.

Grady, who grew up on a ranch in West Texas, describes himself as a college dropout who went to Mexico at 19 in hopes of getting into the cattle trade. When that didn’t pan out, he started a company in oil and gas equipment services, which grew into Grady Rentals LLC and provided the financial resources for Grady to dip his toe into the Thoroughbr­ed industry in 2008.

Grady’s primary goal was to buy young horses and resell them for profit as 2-year-olds, which also turned into a successful business venture for him as he purchased Grand Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla., and expanded his operation.

Grady had the same intentions for Girvin, a horse he passed on at one yearling auction, then bought for $130,000 on the advice of his farm manager, Bobby Dodd. When it came time to sell him, however, minor health issues had cropped up. Instead of potentiall­y taking a loss, Grady decided to send him to Sharp and named him for the tiny town where he grew up, about 60 miles south of Odessa.

“It’s dumb luck how we ended up with the horse,” Grady said. “There’s many reasons the horse shouldn’t have been ours, but fate has a great way of working out.”

As it did for Sharp, who married former jockey Rosie Napravnik in 2011 when he was an assistant trainer for Mike Maker. At the time, Napravnik was a big story in horse racing and eventually won several major races, including the Kentucky Oaks and two in the Breeders’ Cup.

Grady’s young daughter was a huge fan of Napravnik’s, and he asked Bret Calhoun, his primary trainer at that time, if he could put Napravnik on some of their mounts. What Grady didn’t know is that Calhoun’s longtime girlfriend (now wife) was Sharp’s mother, thus connecting him to Napravnik and Sharp.

When Sharp decided to go out on his own at 30, part of the reason was Grady’s promise to go out and claim 10 horses for him to train.

“I’m a few years older than Joe, but we have a lot of the same personalit­y and I see a lot of what Joe’s about in myself 10 years ago starting with nothing, growing your business,” Grady said. “He’s got as good a work ethic as any human I’ve ever seen. It was natural for me to give a guy like that a shot. Joe’s become one of my very best friends.”

Sharp, who has a stable of roughly 75 horses, started winning right off the bat, including a graded stakes in his first year. In 2016, his horses won 111 races from 736 starts, collecting more than $4.1 million in purses. Now he has a Kentucky Derby contender and works side-by-side with Napravnik, who is his top assistant trainer and the exercise rider for Girvin (she retired from being a jockey in 2014).

“They complement each other so well,” Grady said. “Rosie’s riding career speaks for itself, and Joe is one of the most all-around horsemen on the backside at 32. He’s been in every facet of the game. He’s got more miles than he has age.”

Grady has never attended the Kentucky Derby and admitted to some tension this week, dealing with all the speculatio­n about the quarter crack. But faith in his young trainer also could help launch Sharp to stardom if Girvin, who is 15-1 on the morning line, comes through.

“I’m really happy the first time down this road is with the guy that started me,” Sharp said. “We’ve had such a whirlwind. We’ve been very fortunate. I didn’t expect (a Derby horse so soon), but I’m not surprised, and hopefully we’ll be back again. We’ve been very fortunate for the owners to give us horses of this caliber this early in my career, and that’s something I’m very grateful for.”

 ?? JAMIE RHODES, USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Rosie Napravnik, a former jockey and the wife of trainer Joe Sharp, rides Kentucky Derby entrant Girvin during a morning workout Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
JAMIE RHODES, USA TODAY SPORTS Rosie Napravnik, a former jockey and the wife of trainer Joe Sharp, rides Kentucky Derby entrant Girvin during a morning workout Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? USA TODAY SPORTS
USA TODAY SPORTS
 ??  ?? “Every day it just gets better and better,” trainer Joe Sharp says of a quarter crack in Girvin’s right front hoof.
“Every day it just gets better and better,” trainer Joe Sharp says of a quarter crack in Girvin’s right front hoof.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States