Jimmie says … Long shot on the cards in the Jamaica Derby?

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, historically won for the first time ever by a female trainer after 151 years, more so with a 23-1 outsider, GOLDEN TEMPO, set many records in the ‘Greatest two minutes of sports’.

First, Cherie DeVaux, a pre-med dropout, lived every horseman’s (no slight intended) dream by rising through the ranks to win the biggest race in the Western Hemisphere, no, the United States is not the world.

Second, the Ortiz brothers, Jose and Irad, graduates of Puerto Rico’s Vocational Jockeys’ School, now two of the best North American riders ever, became the first siblings to hit the Kentucky Derby line in a 1-2 finish, respectively.

GOLDEN TEMPO also played his part in Kentucky Derby history, displacing 2002-winner WAR EMBLEM (21-1) as the ninth longest shot to have ever won the event in 152 years.

Some might want to downplay DeVaux’s achievements by arguing that, for eight years, she was an assistant to two-time Preakness-winning trainer Chad Brown and was bound to attract deep-pocketed owners after venturing on her own.

However, it took her a while, March 2019, to saddle her first winner after taking out a licence the previous year during which she, similar to many other trainers striking out on their own, harboured serious thoughts of quitting the sport.

The proverb, ‘Better to be born lucky than rich’, has been given a unique spin by local horsemen, ‘Lucky-born better than well-bred’, in describing how the fortunes of horse racing can strike in the most unlikely of places.

DeVaux’s mentor, Brown, with all his accolades — two Preakness wins, Breeders’ Cup victories, and Eclipse awards — ranks among the best trainers never to have won the Kentucky Derby.

In the saddle, most pundits believe Irad Ortiz, a five-time Eclipse winner, who lost by a head aboard RENEGADE, would have been the first of the illustrious brothers to win the Kentucky Derby, yet he remains winless in nine tries.

Locally, Jamaica has seen its fair share of ‘lucky-borns’ winning the Jamaica Derby, notably Technomoto, who shocked even his own connections with a gate-to-wire victory in 2011, scoring a near 11-length win at odds of 32-1.

GOLDEN TEMPO’s upset at Churchill Downs was preceded by a market-springing 5-2 winner at Caymanas Park, SUPER DAVID, out for the first time, owned and trained by, some would say David Who?, took apart fellow maidens at six and a half furlongs, a 10-and -a -quarter length victory in the sixth event.

Prior to Saturday’s race, June’s 2000 Guineas, at least, appeared a foregone conclusion for last year’s champion two-year-old, WE JAMMIN, who continued his marauding ways against his peers with a commanding win in the Prince Consort Stakes, his second race as a three-year-old after a loss against imported AMERICAN AVIATOR.

Trained and owned by David Powell, whose annual wins can possibly be counted on one hand with fingers left, SUPER DAVID certainly appears to be a ‘lucky-born’, bought for a measly $600,000 at the 2024 TOBA Mixed Sale.

SUPER DAVID (Patton Proud-Strorm Girl) was bred by Karl Samuda, who had similarly sold two-time Horse of the Year, Atomica, to the late Don Wehby for $700,000.

Horse of the Year 2022 and 2023, Jamaica Derby-winner Atomica retired to the breeding shed last September with a record of 17 wins, six second-place finishes, and three third-place efforts from 32 starts, amassing earnings just shy of $32 million.

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Caption: Jockey Jose L. Ortiz (left) celebrates after riding Golden Tempo to victory in the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs on Saturday, in Louisville, Kentucky. (AP)