Gary The Legend : Stevens Has Owned This Derby

When Gary Stevens became a jockey, the Santa Anita Derby was one of the races he dreamed of winning some day.

Stevens nearly succeeded in his first attempt. Not long after he turned 22 in 1985, the Idaho native climbed aboard longshot Fast Account for owner W.R. Hawn and trainer Patty Johnson.

Approaching the wire, Fast Account had the lead, but Skywalker, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic more than a year later, came back after being passed and won in a photo finish.

“I wish I knew then what I know now,” Stevens said.

The next two years, Stevens finished fourth in the race with Big Play and Lookingforthebigone, but the Santa Anita Derby has not often escaped him lately.

Since 1988, Stevens has won the event five times, three fewer than Bill Shoemaker’s total. But Stevens has done something no other jockey has done.

He has won the Derby three consecutive times--with Personal Hope in 1993, Brocco in ’94 and Larry The Legend last year.

Shoemaker never won it consecutively, and Laffit Pincay, who has seven victories in the race, won it back-to-back with Solar Salute and Sham in 1972 and ’73.

To most observers, Stevens is sitting in the right seat to make it four consecutive wins in the $1-million Derby on Saturday. He will be aboard Honour And Glory, the likely favorite who will be trying for his third stakes victory of the meeting. He won the six-furlong San Miguel and one-mile San Rafael and was beaten by a nose in the seven-furlong San Vicente.

A son of Relaunch who has the successful 1995 Kentucky Derby connections in his corner--Stevens, trainer Wayne Lukas and owner Michael Tabor--Honour And Glory will be trying 1 1/8 miles for the first time.

How he will handle more distance is the question. Earlier in the meeting, Stevens didn’t care much for his chances, but Honour And Glory’s most recent effort and his behavior in the morning have changed his opinion.

“After his first two races here, I was not real optimistic about his chances of even getting a mile,” Stevens said. “He was acting and running like a sprinter.

“Wayne has done an unbelievable job of getting him to settle. He’s like a different horse right now. It used to be difficult to get him to work a half-mile [as slow as] 47 1/5 [seconds], but now you could get him to work in 51.”

In the San Rafael, Honour And Glory, who won two of his four starts as a 2-year-old, went right to the front, got away with moderate fractions (23 and 46 4/5 for the half-mile), then kicked away in the final furlong to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

“I definitely don’t think he has to be on the lead,” Stevens said. “Nine times out of 10, his natural speed will just put him there. We can’t see taking the horse out of his game. We were going to try to take him off the pace last time, but the pace came up so slow and he was very easy to rate that day.”

If Honour And Glory wins, the feeling won’t match two of Stevens’ previous Derby victories--Larry The Legend’s thrilling win by a head over Afternoon Deelites and Winning Colors’ victory over the males in 1988.

When Winning Colors beat Lively One, Mi Preferido and six others, Stevens had a good feeling about his chances a few weeks later at Churchill Downs.

“She just improved so much that winter,” he said. “When I crossed the wire that day, I knew I had a real legitimate chance of winning the Kentucky Derby.”

While riding in Hong Kong last year, Stevens came back to California to direct Urgent Request to his win in the Santa Anita Handicap. While here, he let Craig Lewis, the trainer of Larry The Legend, and Richard Mandella, Afternoon Deelites’ trainer, know that he was available to ride whichever one Kent Desormeaux didn’t in the Santa Anita Derby.

Desormeaux stuck with then-unbeaten Afternoon Deelites, Stevens picked up Larry The Legend, who had built up a strong fan following.

For most of the race, it looked as if the day belonged to Afternoon Deelites. But Larry The Legend kept on plugging and won at the wire with a fast-finishing Jumron a neck behind in third.

“It was like a fairy tale ending,” Stevens said. “Going into the race, I knew my chances were probably a little less than 50-50, but he ran an unbelievable race. . . .

“The reception he got before and after the race was something I hadn’t seen since the days of John Henry and Snow Chief.”

Stevens had another thrill last week in the Dubai Cup, when his mount, Soul Of The Matter, came close to ending Cigar’s 13-race win streak. Instead, Cigar showed why he’s the best horse of this decade. At least.

“It had to be the most fun I’ve ever had riding in a race,” Stevens said. “It was great for the sport.”