Thursday, April 29, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOE HAWK: Winchell might have enough horsepower with Tapit

Tapit, shown working out Wednesday with jockey Ramon Dominguez up, is owned by Ronald Winchell, a Las Vegas developer and pub owner. The horse is among the favorites for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday in Louisville, Ky. Photo by Associated Press

Ronald Winchell chooses his words extr-eee-mely carefully, as anyone who claims to be "cautiously optimistic" of success should.

There is no vow of victory, no guarantee of greatness.

Certainly no cashing the ticket before the race is run.

Winchell knows better.

"When I say cautiously optimistic," the owner of Kentucky Derby entrant Tapit explains, "it's because I've been disappointed before. Anytime you run a Derby, there are a lot of dreams that go down the drain for a lot of people -- and there is only one dream made for a handful of people.

"My family has been involved in (horse) racing for 40 years. We've seen many moments of disappointment. We think we have a great shot Saturday. But we know that winning is the exception, not the rule."

Still ... there's something about Tapit -- the slate-gray 3-year-old with only four runs and three wins on his résumé -- that has Winchell, a Las Vegas developer and pub owner, feeling this just might be, just could be, the "exception."

It's something more than Tapit's come-from-behind, down-the-stretch victory in the $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 10, which earned the son of Pulpit a spot in his sport's most treasured event. And it proved he was fully recovered from the lung infection that resulted in a disappointing sixth-place finish in the Florida Derby a month earlier.

As Winchell describes it, speaking by phone from the family's 320-acre Oakwind Farm outside of Lexington, Ky., what Tapit has is attitude.

"He's extremely cocky," Winchell says proudly. "He knows when he wins. And he's brave. He's able to split horses in situations where others would be shy and back off. I think a lot of the great ones have had a similar ability."

Not that any comparisons to past Derby winners come immediately to Winchell's mind. Or, perhaps, it is merely that this son of the late Verne H. Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donut House and a longtime racehorse owner in his own right, doesn't want to false-start his hopes in advance of Saturday's 130th Derby running at Louisville's Churchill Downs.

"He has a personality other people have told me is what you find in the great ones," Winchell says of Tapit. "If a crowd comes around, he won't go hide in the stall. Some horses will go hide in the corner. Not him. He'd probably sign autographs, if he could."

Now, that would be a guaranteed winner.

Seriously, what Winchell, 32, is hoping to avoid is the disappointment he and his father experienced in 1994 when Valiant Nature finished 13th in a 14-horse Derby field. Verne Winchell's only other Derby horse -- Classic Go Go -- placed fourth behind winner Pleasant Colony, Woodchopper and Partez in 1981.

The elder Winchell's best shot at a Derby victory, sadly, never ran the race. In 1962, Donut King, his first racehorse, was one of the favorites but was scratched with an injury shortly before post time.

Now, Verne Winchell's last horse, purchased before his death at 87 in November 2002, is the family's latest -- and likely best -- hope to reach the Derby winner's circle and wear the wreath of roses.

Purchased at Keeneland in September 2002 for $625,000 and trained ever since by Michael Dickinson, the spirited Tapit, with jockey Ramon Dominguez aboard in maroon-and-white silks, will start outside in the 18th position Saturday. His odds are listed at 8-to-1, behind the 4-1 odds of The Cliff's Edge and the 9-2 of Smarty Jones.

"My dad chased the dream of winning the Derby for 40 years. It would be appropriate for this horse, his last, to do it," Ronald Winchell says. "But a lot of things have to go your way.

"It's not just enough to have the right horse, the right trainer, the right jockey."

As Tapit might say, if he could speak, "You have to have attitude, too."

Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.