Monday, April 26, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.
Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.
Las Vegas will brace for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. After all, the Derby is the second biggest single-day sporting event weekend in this gaming capital, just behind the Super Bowl for a one-day event.
Hotel complexes will swing open the ballrooms and pack their race books with action on the fastest two minutes in sports. And, this 130th Run for the Roses is a wide open affair. So much so, there is no room at the inn as far as the multitudes of equines wanting a shot at the fame and glory that the Derby brings its winner.
There are way more eager participants than there are stalls in the starting gate, which forced Churchill Downs officials to enforce the "20-horse limit" for those sophomores who have enough graded stakes earnings to qualify for the chance at the Derby trophy.
Although Louisville holds the live party, Las Vegas has always been a worthy Avis call. However, this year, if a certain gray horse streaks across the finish line first, Louisville will be relegated to the mere site of the epicenter for the party to begin.
And, the party place won't be a big hotel ballroom or a packed race book. It will be a pair of little pubs in the suburbs of Las Vegas that will be rocking. Winchell's Pub and Grill's to be exact.
The proprietor, Las Vegan Ron Winchell, has already given the thumbs up for celebration if his Tapit wins the Kentucky Derby. And, party hearty they will.
For his young 32 years, Winchell has the experience to know when to send a steed to Kentucky for the Louisville cavalry charge. He also knows the heartbreak of being on the threshold of starting a solid Derby contender only to come up empty in the shadow of post time.
Winchell, you see, also has the breeding for the great game of horse racing.
His father, Verne H. Winchell, took young Ron to the track early and often. In fact, Ron says he attended the races and visited the winners circle in Southern California while still in foal. His mother, Joan, was pregnant with Ron when she joined Verne for a victory picture.
Ron and Verne would spend their quality time talking horses and attending the races and sales rings. Although Ron was introduced to the game from birth, Verne dabbled with his first horse in 1958, but really started his racing operation in 1961 when he purchased Donut King. Verne -- who founded the Winchell's Donut chains and was later CEO of Denny's Restaurants -- appropriately named him and the juvenile performed as admirably as his owner. Donut King would go into the 1962 Kentucky Derby as one of the favorites only to be scratched out of the race due to injury in the waning hours before the race.
Ron has learned that lesson well. Now a Las Vegas developer, Ron enjoys watching the racing stable runners from his desert perch through simulating at the race books, but will be on hand at Churchill Downs for the Derby. Although their famous maroon-and-white silks were carried twice in the Derby -- with Classic A Go Go in 1981 and Valiant Nature in 1994 -- Ron feels that Tapit is the one. The Winchell racing operation -- now based out of Lexington, Ky., at the 320-acre Oakwind Farm -- has produced such stable champions as Mira Femme, Olympio, Tight Spot, Sea Cadet and Wild Wonder over the years. But, none he says, as exciting as Tapit.
Ron knew Tapit was something special the first time he set eyes on the gray son of Pulpit. And, so did his father. As Ron tells it, only one horse interested them at the 2002 September sales at Keeneland. So, Ron and Verne put a personal ceiling of $500,000 on the colt. When Tapit hit the sales ring it was the Winchells and another bidder at $600,000. Ron reminded his father about their ceiling and Verne said go one more time. They got Tapit at $625,000. Tapit was the last horse they would ever buy together, Verne passed away that November.
Ron sent Tapit to Keith Asmussen's Texas center to learn his early lessons with another stable yearling named Cuvee. Cuvee developed quicker and ultimately finished 12th as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. But, it was Tapit that had them buzzing. Asmussen suggested that Ron keep Tapit on the east coast and he soon found his way to Ron's eastern-based trainer Michael Dickinson. Like Asmussen, Ron and Verne, Dickinson saw something special in Tapit.
By year's end, Tapit had redeemed his stablemates' Juvenile flop with a late year victory in the Laurel Futurity. Now, the only horse to keep up with the quick Cuvee at the Texas farm was running down foes in Maryland. Easily.
Winchell knew he needed a game plan for Tapit to make the Derby. However, early this year Tapit suffered setbacks and his schedule for Louisville was getting tighter. His first sophomore start was a dismal performance in the Florida Derby. After the race, it was discovered that Tapit was sick.
Ron also knew that funny things happen to great horses in the Derby. So, his plan needed a major Derby prep victory before the run for the roses. Reasoning that a Derby failure would not be as damaging if Tapit had already proved himself against his classmates.
The Wood Memorial on April 10, was just what the Tapit team needed. A solid Tapit victory in the Big Apple. Winchell believes that Tapit is just starting to come around. That is just what some faithful Winchell's Pub & Grill regulars wanted to hear. It seems there are more than a few Las Vegas Derby future book bets riding on the gray at odds much greater than will be offered in on Derby Day. And although it will be a big payday for the Winchell's Pub crowd, it will be an emotional victory if Tapit pulls it off for Ron.
Ron remembers what his father told him after they bought Tapit that day in Lexington. Winning the Kentucky Derby, he said, "Won't come in my lifetime, but it will in yours."
Tapit may have a date with destiny in the Derby leading to boxcar profits in Las Vegas.
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