HORSE RACING – SPORTSFEATURE – Emotional Kentucky Derby for Husbands (REPEAT)

By Lance Whittaker

Barbadian riding ace Patrick Husbands, his country’s most celebrated jockey, was in tears moments before last Saturday’s rich 2006 Kentucky Derby at the famous Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, Kentucky.

Memories of his late father’s prophetic declaration more than 15 years ago that his son would one day ride in North America’s most famous horse race,came rushing back for the 32-year-old Canada-based jockey.

“The tears started to come to my eyes, seeing that my father was always telling everybody that one of these days I was going to win the derby, one of these days I would get a chance to ride in the derby,” Husbands told CMC Sport.

Speaking on his mobile phone just moments after dismounting from a horse during exercise gallops Monday morning at Canada’s Woodbine race track,Husbands explained the tremendously overwhelming feeling he experienced as he took his mount to the starting gates for the 132nd Kentucky Derby, worth US$2.21 million.

The fact that he felt his mount Seaside Retreat – the second longest shot in the 10-furlong race as a 53-to-1 outsider – could have placed a lot better
than 10th with better racing luck, was a secondary thought as Husbands recounted the intense emotions he felt from the experience.

“The feeling was unbelievable, I was never nervous but when I was coming through the tunnel coming onto the race track, I started to get cold bumps, and as I got cold bumps, I started to hear the bugle, then I heard the national anthem, it was very emotional,” said Husbands, the first Barbadian ever to ride in the Kentucky Derby.

“I was thinking back 17 years ago, my father always told me I was going to ride in the (Kentucky) Derby, and his dream has come true, thousands and
thousands of people in the stands, the feeling was unbelievable,” said Husbands, a three-time Woodbine champion jockey.

It was only the third time in history that a Caribbean rider was appearing in the Kentucky Derby. Jamaican Richard DePass rode twice in the Kentucky Derby and the Jamaica-born Shaun Bridgmohan was also in Saturday’s race, riding another longshot, the 41-1 bet Private Vow that placed 15th.

The assertive and confident Husbands comes from a riding family. His father was a jockey and his brothers are also in the racing business. Simon Husbands, an older brother, is also based at Canada’s Woodbine. Husbands felt he could have done a lot better, and could even have won Saturday’s Kentucky Derby if his mount was not impeded twice in the race.

He says he suffered a shocking hit just after the midway point when his horse felt very strong and was traveling smoothly. The setback came at a time in the event when he felt his mount’s energy could have taken him to a huge upset win. “I had a good trip throughout the (first part of the) race, five furlongs

out, my head was as big as Barbados. I couldn’t believe how (good) my horse was traveling, but four furlongs out, a guy came from nowhere and gave him
(my horse) a lash in the backend and from there I couldn’t get his stride back together the way it was before,” Husbands said. Husbands also suffered in the home stretch when he was bumped into, again stifling his horse’s hopes.

“Down the lane, two guys came across and cut me off,” he said. Husbands said the power and exuberance his horse exhibited after the race showed clearly that he was not tired and would have done a lot better if he was not impeded. “He ran off with me (after the race), I couldn’t get him to stop after the race, the outriders had to pull him up for me, he was just pulling himself,” Husbands said.

The colt Barbaro emerged an impressive winner of the Kentucky Derby, scoring by 6-1/2 lengths under jockey Edgar Prado. Originally from Harts Gap, just outside the city and very close to the Barbados horse racing facility, the Garrison Savannah, Husbands made fantastic strides in the past seven years in Canada, during which time he has emerged as one of the most successful jockeys in the history of Canadian horse racing.

Born on May 22, 1973, Husbands enjoyed historic success early in his career. In 1990, at age 16, he became the youngest rider ever to win the Barbados Gold Cup with Vardar. Champion jockey of Barbados in 1993 at a mere 20 years old, he began having annual riding stints in Canada in 1994, and took a few years to make an impact. His breakthrough season was 1998 when he finished third in the Woodbine jockeys’ championship with 131 victories.

He won his first Woodbine jockeys’ title in 1999 when Barbados also made him Sports Personality of the Year, and he repeated as champion in 2000. He lost the championship title to Todd Kabel in 2001 but regained it in 2002, while creating history in that four-year spell. In spite of losing the Woodbine title in 2001, he was voted Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s most outstanding jockey for that year and completed an unprecedented four consecutive Sovereign Awards as outstanding jockey of the year, from 1999-2002.

His accolades kept coming as he swept his first Canadian Triple Crown title in 2003, when – although he failed to regain the Woodbine jockeys’ title -- he still celebrated a glorious season, steering the outstanding colt Wando to victory in the Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales Stakes, and Breeder’s Stakes to complete the prized Triple Crown series.

In March this year, Husbands, who only makes rare appearances at the Garrison Savannah, gave his home fans a glimpse of his brilliance when he guided the little-fancied six-year-old horse Sharp Impact, to an upset win in the Sandy Lane Gold Cup at odds of 11-1.

Doctors have advised him not to stretch his career beyond the age of 35.His natural body weight is above the ideal range for jockeys – generally considered to be between 100-115 pounds – and it is a strain on his health to maintain a riders’ weight.

But the taste of the Kentucky Derby has made him even more hungry for success at the highest levels in the sport and there is now a strong temptation to delay retirement from the saddle until after he places a major international win on his log – the Kentucky Derby or one of the big events on Breeder’s Cup day, the richest meet in world horse racing.

“I know my career is (supposed to be) coming to an end. I was planning to quit riding in another three years, because health-wise I am too big as a rider, but I’ve reached so far now in racing that I don’t feel I could just stop. I would have to (first) win a Breeder’s Cup or a (Kentucky) Derby,” he said.

In 2003, the Barbados Government bestowed a national honour on Husbands for his outstanding service to sport, giving him the Barbados Service Star (BSS).

If he fulfills his lofty dreams, Barbados may need to consider upgrading the status of the national honour for their master of jockeyship.

CMC lw/06