Ferdinand stuns Derby (MAY 3, 1986)
of 123,819.
In the eyes of those who made another far more esteemed Californian the $2.10-to-$1 favorite because of his five straight triumphs, Snow Chief was the abominable snowman. Snow Chief gained a brief advantage with five-sixteenths of a mile to go, then disappeared when he got some heat and finished 11th.
“He stumbled leaving the gate, and then I had to rush him a little to get a position,” said Snow Chief’s jockey, Alex Solis. “But at the half-mile pole, he was running easily. I thought he was laying perfect.
“Then, at the three-sixteenths pole, four horses went past him, and he didn’t respond. He cannot talk and tell what happened. I think he just got tired.”
Snow Chief got tired, and fifth-place Badger Land, the second choice at somewhat surprising odds of $2.60-to-$1, got hammered.
“I got killed coming out of the gate,” said Badger Land’s jockey, Jorge Velasquez. “I was in serious trouble for the first three or four strides. I was lucky he didn’t go down.”
Shoemaker downplayed what will go down as one of his most resourceful performances in a career that has seen him win 8,537 races and 942 stakes, including four Kentucky Derbies, two Preaknesses and five Belmonts.
“It wasn’t that difficult, execpt for the first turn,” he said. “They rammed me into the fence a couple times, and I got pinched back on the rail — way back, farther than I wanted to be.
“I said said to myself: ‘I’m here. Nothing I can do about it. lI`l just take my time, and then start moving on through.’ It worked out perfect.”