The Mid-Atlantic may be ready to deliver another Triple Crown surprise.
Smarty Jones won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes from his unlikely Philadelphia Park base. Afleet Alex took the 2004 Preakness and Belmont stakes from even more unlikely Delaware Park last year.
The smart money may now rest on Sweetnorthernsaint to smell the roses on May 6. The Laurel Park gelding may be the first Maryland-based runner since Spectacular Bid in 1979 to win the Kentucky Derby after his recent Illinois Derby runaway victory.
“Let’s hope we can do it one more year,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “Good horsemen can come from anywhere. We’re living a bit of a dream here with this guy and hopefully he’ll continue it and take us a bit further.”
Maryland racing shows an occasional pulse in the Triple Crown, though usually more often with long shots finishing second in the homestate Preakness. Captain Bodgit’s close second in 1997 was Maryland’s last close Derby call.
But Derby winners are supposed to be Kentucky bluebloods or trained by the superstar conditioners with gray hair. That theory worked well until the last three Triple Crowns, which were dominated by trainers respected by peers but unknown to the public.
John Shirreffs is an eccentric California trainer who prepped Giacomo to a shocking 50-1 upset last year in the Derby. Delaware trainer Tim Ritchey then took the Preakness and Belmont with Afleet Alex. The year before, few knew John Servis of Philadelphia before Smarty Jones just missed the Triple Crown. And Marylanders were mostly the only ones who knew trainer Barclay Tagg before Funny Cide took the 2003 Derby and Preakness.
The Sport of Kings is suddenly overrun by the dem’s and do’s guys of the game. The ones who see the sunrises and sunsets over the backstretch.
“When you do something that you like you know it’s where you’re supposed to be,” Trombetta said. “Most people I know live for the weekends to get away from work. Weekends are work for us, but we enjoy what we do.”
Trombetta knew he was supposed to be at the racetrack from an early age. He began walking horses along the shedrow at age 13 when his father brought him to the barns. Rudy Trombetta was a Baltimore construction worker who also trained a few horses at Pimlico and the son naturally followed him into the sport.
By 18, Trombetta earned his trainer’s license and started with a pair of cheap claiming horses. He bounced around small tracks like Timonium and Delaware for awhile, trying to gain a spare horse or two from an owner willing to try such a young conditioner.
Twenty years later, Trombetta has 30 horses at Laurel. Sweetnorthernsaint is the first national standout, but not Trombetta’s first big horse. Bop set a pair of turf records and Ghostly Numbers won a few stakes. Last year, Trombetta was named Maryland Trainer of the Year by local horsemen while winning 53 races.
“It’s taken 20 years for me to get a barn full of nice horses,” he said. “I don’t think there was that one breakout horse. I got recognition from just claiming horse, improving him, making a living and selling him.”
Now the biggest test begins. Sweetnorthernsaint is rated the second to fourth choice by most Derby handicappers. Trombetta knows the Louisville track after racing under the Twin Spires before, but there’s always a gut check when seeing thousands of onlookers around the barns in the mornings and 150,000 cramming Churchill Downs come post time.
“The most exciting part of this is we all hope to get a chance to go there [but] I’m going with a serious contender who has earned a lot of respect and has a serious chance to win,” he said. “I would imagine the guys that have the horses that they know deep down are not going to do well … have lots of sleepless nights.”
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
