Loran Smith - Dan Pride
Loran
Smith
There has always been something electrifying about the Kentucky Derby, which trumpets its mile and a quarter race as, “The most exciting two minutes in sports.” You could also say that Derby Day is the “Longest Day in sports,” in that the preeminent event is the 12th race of the day. Activity at Churchill Downs begins before dawn and admission gates open at 9:00 a.m. As you might expect, the last two races are as anti-climactic as a four-pound bass shaking free of your hook three feet from your dip net. The rest of the day is as action packed and festive as an old-fashioned county fair.
Going to the Derby offers a full day of anticipation and upbeat reverberation. There is history, rich tradition, high-end food, and high-quality drink, wagering like you might own an orchard of money trees, and fashion and beauty that is unsurpassed. The millinery that women display and the national drink of the day, the mint julep, are as resonating and refreshing as the sheer beauty of a sleek thoroughbred which is a born competitor, and anxious for post time.
I have had the good fortune to attend the Derby intermittently over the years. However, I am not a serious bettor. I am a hunch bettor. Horse’s names, jockey’s silks, whatever is intriguing. As a two-dollar bettor, I do not expect a windfall at the racetrack, but I do not have to take out a second mortgage when I return home.
As I watched the “run for the roses” last Saturday, I was not aware that there was a University of Georgia connection in the winner’s circle—having latently learned this nugget of Bulldog lore from old friends Earl Leonard and Keith Mason.
The fact that there were two names I favored as post time approached, Publisher and Journalism, simply because of a personal emotional attachment, I would likely have bet on them if I had been at Churchill Downs.
Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, closed hard from the outside, which I enjoyed but I didn’t know anything about the stable that owns him, and I had no idea that the COO of Godolphin USA once scrimmaged with Dooley’s Dawgs as a walk-on in 1987. Dan Pride enjoyed making the travel roster for the 1987 Liberty Bowl season, but do not ask him about a spring practice tackling drill when he lined up against Hiawatha Berry (6-1, 285) who left him wondering if he had crossed paths with a locomotive.
All parts of the learning experience, he says. Life after football took him on an odyssey that is a treatise on following your dream and never letting go. He started out coaching and teaching history at a private school in Columbia, S. C. Wherever he found employment, he had that burning motivation to find a place in the thoroughbred racing industry. That itch would never go away. His wife, Beth, a native of Rome, continued from page
was supportive so they struck out for Lexington, the Bluegrass haven in Kentucky. He was starting at ground zero. He made his entry into the business by answering an ad in the Lexington Herald-Leader. A farm was looking to hire a groom.
He was eager to muck stalls and hot walk horses, volunteering for any assignment. He literally was learning the business from the ground up. He is now the Chief Operating Officer of Godolphin, USA, which is owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai. The Sheikh owns 5,000 thoroughbreds globally with 550 of them in the U. S. The Godolphin farm, which is near Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, comprises 6,000 acres requiring 125 employees who manage 550 horses—a big jump from the campus where he learned about serious competition.
When Dan was scrimmaging with the Bulldogs, he purchased a quarter horse but did not have any place to stable his steed. He knew that the car dealer, Heyward Allen, had a farm in Madison County and went calling. He knocked on Heyward’s door and made a deal with him. If he would allow Dan to keep his horse at his barn, Dan would manage chores and odd jobs at the farm. That was Dan’s first deal in the horse business, something that pales with the multimillion-dollar enterprises of Godolphin USA today.
As Dan became established in thoroughbred circles, he traveled the world from Dubai to Ireland to the United Kingdom to Australia to Japan to Blue Ridge in the North Georgia Mountains.
The last address is a getaway place to recharge for him and Beth, whose reputation as an author is gaining traction. She has written a novel “Back to Blue Holly,” which is based on life in the mountain community, including an insight regarding some of the characters that abound.
A thoroughbred executive with an abiding grasp of the graphic meaning of Sovereignty’s victory last weekend, Dan does not take this enviable plum of success for granted. None of the threeyear olds entered in the Derby had ever run a mile and a quarter race. There were 18,700 foals born in Sovereignty’s birth year, which means the odds of just getting into the race are overwhelming. The field is usually 20 horses.
Then to capture the garland of roses, which goes to the Derby winner, requires winning against staggering odds, but all along Dan and the Godolphin team saw promise in Sovereignty, primarily his finishing power.
Early on, he displayed a natural kick down the stretch and finished well in his initial races. However, he came in second in his last race before the Derby—but that was not a worry for the Godolphin brass.
Dan watched the Derby without trepidation. As the field made the final turn headed for the homestretch, Dan saw Sovereignty in excellent position to make a championship run. “When he was 3/8s from the finish line, I saw him make his move which got us all excited. This was where he was trained to do his best. He saw daylight at the last 1/16 of a mile, and we knew we had the advantage.”
The rest, we all know, is history. What a memorable week it was for Dan and his associates.
The first celebration for him and his team came in the 11th race on Friday of Derby weekend when their filly, Good Cheer, won the Kentucky Oaks. One stable winning both races has not taken place since 1952 in the heyday of Calumet Farms. It was double your pleasure for Dan and the Godolphin team, sublime and unforgettable moments. Like Georgia winning back-toback national championships in football.
Earlier this week, Sovereignty was involved with disappointing news when the announcement came that he would not run in the upcoming Preakness. Dan allowed that the limited time between the Triple Crown races is just too critically short and in the best interest of Sovereignty’s health, he was scratched from the second leg of the Triple Crown. He will concentrate on the Belmont, which this year will be held at Saratoga with construction taking place at Belmont.
