Long-Shot Favorite After Not Racing Last Year, Pulpit Has History Against Him In Kentucky Derby

The field of 3-year-old horses for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby is deep in talent, but only one of the prospective starters has genuine star quality.

Pulpit has excited the racing world since the day in January when he won his first start by 7-1/2 lengths in spectacularly fast time. His luster was enhanced by the fact he was bred by Claiborne Farm, America’s most famous thoroughbred operation, and he possesses a regal pedigree.

Pulpit raised the inevitable hopes he might be not just a good horse but a great horse, one who could draw broad public interest to a sport whose popularity is waning.

He has progressed so fast in less than four months he is likely to be the Derby favorite. Yet some doubters at Churchill Downs expect him to fail, and others will quietly be pleased if he does fail, because they don’t want to see the racing gods reward Seth Hancock, the president of Claiborne.

Hancock planned the mating of A.P. Indy and Preach that produced Pulpit, and he should be reveling in that achievement. Minutes after the colt’s maiden victory at Gulfstream Park, he said: “You wait years for something like this to happen. This couldn’t be any more exciting.”

But as soon as Pulpit started making headlines, Hancock practically disappeared from public view. He wouldn’t talk to the media, return phone calls, appear at prerace functions or postrace interviews. He designated his sister, Dell - who has had little role in Claiborne’s operations - as the farm spokesman.

People connected with the colt became guarded and evasive. Hancock had said matter-of-factly that Pulpit didn’t race as a 2-year-old because he had fractured a leg and trainer Frank Brothers had been present when the accident happened.

But soon the Hancocks were denying there had been any serious injury and Brothers was denying it, too. Eventually, after weeks of rumors and denials, Dell Hancock, Brothers and two veterinarians took part in a telephone conference call with reporters, acknowledging the colt had suffered a stress fracture that required no surgery. Why, everybody wondered, couldn’t they have been more forthcoming from the start?

If such evasiveness was pointless, Hancock’s refusal to talk publicly is disgraceful, because people connected with a top horse have an obligation to their sport.

Cigar’s emergence as America’s champion racehorse of 1995 and 1996 put owner Allen Paulson and trainer Bill Mott in the spotlight even though they didn’t want to be there. Paulson is a shy, private person and Mott a workaholic who dislikes any distractions from his training. But they both accepted their responsibilities as public figures.

Whenever Cigar traveled to a racetrack, Mott cheerfully took part in all the obligatory functions; he regularly appeared before fans and fielded their questions.

Hancock is supposed to step forward in similar fashion. (Billy Reed of the Lexington Herald-Leader speculated that Hancock’s antipathy toward the media might stem not from anything written about Claiborne but from an insufficiently idolatrous Sports Illustrated article about his friend, Rick Pitino, the Kentucky basketball coach.)

Some people might say Hancock will be getting his just desserts if nobody wants to talk to him after Saturday’s Derby. And despite all the hype surrounding Pulpit, there are many reasons to question his chances in this race.

No horse has won the Derby without racing as a 2-year-old since Apollo did it in 1882.

Brothers said, “I respect 115 years of history. There’s a reason for that statistic.”

The reason is, it is very difficult to cram all of the necessary preparation for a demanding 1-1/4-mile race into a four-month period. A horse needs to have laid a foundation of fitness and experience the year before.

Pulpit won his first three starts this winter and was being hailed as a potential superstar until he finished second to Captain Bodgit in the Florida Derby. His inexperience seemed to have caught up with him, and some of us thought his Derby hopes were finished.

Brothers said: “He took a step backward in the Florida Derby. But he didn’t fall apart mentally or physically. And now he’s moving forward again. He looks excellent. He couldn’t be doing any better.”

When Pulpit won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, he restored his reputation, and many of his fans were ready to dismiss his loss to Captain Bodgit as an aberration.

But was it? Pulpit had no excuse when he lost to Captain Bodgit. His important victories have been accomplished with the aid of easy trips and still weren’t dazzlingly fast. When he won the Blue Grass against a weak field, he sat behind one fainthearted speed horse and shot to the lead when the front-runner faded. He has still not won a race in which he faced adversity.

It is conceivable that Pulpit will show further dimensions to his talent and win Saturday. If he can rise to the occasion, Seth Hancock should be prepared to do so, too.