They're Meeting in St. Louis for Rejuvenated Derby

What a difference a century makes. One hundred years ago, Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., led the local news coverage and even made the front page of the New York Times sports section with the running of the $25,000 Fairmount Derby June 19, 1926. A crowd of 20,000, give or take, turned out to watch a real thriller, described by The Associated Press as "a driving race all the way" that came down to the nose separating Joseph Widener's Haste and Col. E.R. Bradley's Bagenbaggage at the end of the mile and one-quarter. For the era, the money was very good, enough to lure a classy field. Haste won the Withers Stakes earlier in the season and had finished third in the Belmont Stakes one week before the Fairmount Derby. Bagenbaggage won the Louisiana Derby and finished second to stablemate Bubbling Over in the Kentucky Derby. Credit for Haste's narrow victory was laid squarely at the feet of his jockey Earl Sande, who was already approaching mythic status, although winning trainer G. Hamilton Keene may have had something to do with it as well. According to an inflation calculator, more of a curiosity than a resource, that $25,000 in 1926 should be able to buy around $470,000 in goods today, give or take. Since the purses in Thoroughbred racing have very little connection to inflation, hewing more to the ebb and flow of pari-mutuel handle and casino subsidies, it would be unreasonable for the modern version of the Fairmount Derby—now called the St. Louis Derby—to carry such a formidable prize. Still, the $250,000 offered Aug. 29 at Fairmount Park has been sufficient to pull a group of 3-year-olds across a variety of state lines to run a mile and one-sixteenth in the biggest race of the Illinois season. Late Friday morning, Jonathan Thomas lit out from his summer base at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky, heading west for a date in the St. Louis Derby with the Omaha Beach gelding Sharons Beach. Reached somewhere along Interstate 64, about 3 1/2 hours from Collinsville, Thomas was hoping he could strike while the iron was still hot from winning the $400,000 West Virginia Derby (G3) Aug. 9 with Zihnal and a maiden claimer 10 days later with Paula's Choice at Saratoga Race Course. "I'm looking at a lot of corn, a lot of agriculture," Thomas said, describing the scenery flying by. "And truthfully, I didn't even know Fairmount existed until this race came on the radar a couple months ago. I should be more up on my racetracks." Thomas is a Virginian who has been dividing his efforts between Kentucky and California the past three years, so cut him some slack. Besides, Fairmount Park, located only about a dozen miles from the Gateway Arch on the St. Louis side of the Mississippi River, only recently recovered its original name. The place was purchased in 2024 by Accel Entertainment (the gaming machines people) from FanDuel, which had rebranded the 100-year-old property FanDuel Sportsbook & Racetrack. Welcome back, Fairmount Park. The track operates just two days a week, but with the apparent end to Hawthorne Race Course through bankruptcy proceedings, the Illinois Thoroughbred world is very much in flux, and Fairmount looms as the last track standing. Accel acquired Fairmount Holdings for approximately $35 million in Class A-1 stock, then committed millions to capital improvements that included everything from enhanced casino facilities to a new inside rail on the 1-mile course. FanDuel Sportsbook continues to be the presenting sponsor of the St. Louis Derby, which helped boost the purse and lure 3-year-olds from the stables of Thomas, Kenny McPeek, Wesley Ward, Joe Sharp, and Todd Fincher, in addition to the local barns of Steve Manley and Heather Irion. Thomas got serious about the race after Sharons Beach took a starter optional claimer Aug. 5 at Saratoga, leading every step of the 6-furlong event under pressure before winning by a nose. "Our biggest question mark is the distance," Thomas said. "We did kind of a deep dive on his female side—he is out of an Into Mischief mare—and it seemed like his mother and his siblings were proficient enough at a mile, a mile-plus." Only a bit of research was required to find that Cosmic Code, the dam of Sharons Beach, is a half sister to Bonny South, a million-dollar earner for Juddmonte who won the 2020 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and hit the board in major events against the likes of Letruska, Malathaat, and Swiss Skydiver. "I've learned from training Mr. Strawbridge's horses what a route of ground will do," Thomas said. "It can take them from being good horses to being very good horses." Sharons Beach races for the Panic Stable of Chicagoan Paul Gange, who bought him for $150,000 at the Ocala Breeders Sales' Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in 2025 and named him for his late wife. After two races at Colonial Downs last year, Sharons Beach has run six times this season, never finishing worse than second or beaten more than 1 length. Zihnal, his stablemate, is a homebred son of Quality Road who carried the Augustin Stables colors of George Strawbridge Jr. to a 6 1/4-length victory in the West Virginia Derby, held at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort. Thomas took a road trip for that race, as well, even though head trainers these days tend to dispatch assistants to the nether regions. "You learn something about your horses you don't see day to day if you're present when they're racing," Thomas said. "There are nuances that you can observe, things that you can do better. And so much can be undone in the preliminaries, you want to make sure everything is covered. "Besides, I like to visit new places," Thomas said. "I hope to have time to find a good restaurant or something of local interest." Rajiv Maragh will be the sixth different rider for Sharons Beach, while the St. Louis Derby will represent his seventh racetrack in nine starts. All variables aside, it still will come down to getting the trip, even at the modest mile and one-sixteenth. At some point, it becomes up to Mother Nature. "We'll get him to the quarter pole," Thomas said, "then hope genetics kick in."