Want to make the ghost of Matt Winn laugh? Make a list, in March or even April, and call it something like Derby Derps or the Run for the Rosetta Stone or 3-Year-Olds to Watch and Then Just as Quickly Forget. For all the favored winners of the Kentucky Derby (G1) in recent years—there have been six in the last eight runnings—the task of landing the right name on the big day is no easier now than it was half a century ago.
Consider the results of the three prime events that filled the April 3 airwaves with 27 runners hungry for Derby field points and national attention. In Kentucky, 2020 Eclipse champ Essential Quality remained unbeaten by the skin of his teeth in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) while edging a horse who had never run farther than a one-turn mile. In California, the winner of the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) had never before raced on dirt after two wins on the grass. Rock Your World indeed. And in New York, where Kentucky Derby hopes usually go to die in the Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2), 2021 Hall of Fame slam dunk Todd Pletcher finished 1-2, which would have been a dog-bites-man headline if the exacta hadn't returned $453 on a one-dollar bet.
History sometimes repeats and often rhymes. This year's Kentucky Derby scramble elicits echoes of 1971 when gas was 36 cents a gallon and Three Dog Night topped the pop charts with "Joy to the World."
On March 20, 2021, unbeaten and untested Life Is Good went into a six-furlong work at Santa Anita Park the future book Derby favorite and came out of it with a chip in his left hind ankle that knocked him off the Triple Crown trail.
On March 30, 1971, consensus Derby favorite Hoist the Flag broke his right hind pastern and cannon bone while working five furlongs at Belmont Park, ending his career.
At that point, no one had uttered the name "Canonero" outside of Venezuelan racing circles. The loss of Hoist the Flag threw open the doors to an array of one-hit wonders who fired and then fell back through a series of races designed to focus the Derby conversation.
Executioner kicked things off that season by winning the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah Park, after which he dropped the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park to Eastern Fleet. Northfields, a son of Northern Dancer, stepped up to take the Louisiana Derby, while Jim French invaded L.A. from New York to win the Santa Anita Derby on the same day Twist the Axe won the Arkansas Derby by a comfortable two lengths.
Two weeks later, most of the headline colts convened for the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. To the horror of those who prefer order to chaos, Good Behaving and Chuck Baltazar defeated Executioner, Eastern Fleet, and Jim French at the end of the 1 1/8 miles. Since the winner was coupled with Jim French, the payoff at odds of 5-2 hardly reflected Good Behaving's public support. Neither were his people particularly impressed, since winning owner Neil Hellman had not bothered to nominate for the Kentucky Derby.
The final nail in the confusing 1971 pre-Derby saga was driven on April 22 in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where Greentree's Dynastic was favored under Bill Shoemaker. Twist the Axe was in there, too, along with stablemate Impetuosity, a Vertex colt bereft of stakes credentials. Of course, it was Impetuosity first, Twist the Axe second, with the winner ridden by Eric Guerin, who at 46 was one year shy of his Hall of Fame induction.
Without a leader of the pack, it was no great surprise when 21 horses were entered for the 1971 Derby and 20 ran, making it the largest field since 1951. Unconscious, who won the California Derby after losing to Jim French at Santa Anita, was favored at just under 3-to-1, but in those ancient days, the tote system could handle only 12 betting interests. After accounting for three owner-trainer entries, the track linemaker had to stuff six no-hopers into a mutual field. Fans who thought quantity was worth more than quality made the "field" 8.70-to-1.
And they would have been rightfully broke, after five of the six ran 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. The other one, however, was Canonero, tagged with a II because there was another one running around somewhere. Canonero II was bred in Kentucky and raced in Venezuela, with the exception of a foray to California the previous summer to go unplaced in the Del Mar Futurity. The son of Pretendre confirmed all suspicions that the North American crop of 3-year-olds was a dreary, inconsistent bunch by winning that 97th Kentucky Derby drawing away, 3 3/4 lengths clear at the end. Uncoupled, there's no telling how long his odds might have been.
When Canonero II performed a similar miracle two weeks later in the Preakness, skeptics disappeared. And when he was beaten in the Belmont Stakes after a valiant attempt to win the Triple Crown, believers began to sing his praises. He was later purchased by King Ranch and managed to win the 1972 Stymie Handicap before retiring to a lackluster stallion career. He eventually was repatriated to Venezuela, where he died in 1981. Later, he was further memorialized by "The Simpsons" in a commercial mocking a Humvee style SUV called the Canyonero, that "smells like steak and seats 35."
At 72-to-1, the victory in the Wood of Bourbonic for Pletcher and the modern-day incarnation of Calumet Farm was a fitting tribute to the golden anniversary of Canonero's exhilarating Derby surprise. Now, let's see if he can do it again. This year, with the Kentucky Derby returning to the first Saturday in May, anything seems possible.
