Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: A Crowded House For The 100th Kentucky Derby

When the two favorites enter the gate for the 150th Kentucky Derby this weekend on May 4, they will be contending not only with 18 expected opponents but also the tradition of full Derby fields that began full tilt with the 100th Kentucky Derby.

Previously, Canonero in 1971 (winning as a “field” horse at 8.70-to-1) and Count Turf in 1951 (winning as a “field” horse at 14.60-to-1) had defeated 19 opponents, but in the quarter-century between the 75th Kentucky Derby in 1949 and the 100th Derby in 1974, the typical field for the Run for the Roses was in the teens.

Through this period, the principal racers for the Triple Crown sorted themselves out well in the varied preps for the classics, and field sizes were normalized by the contending desire to run for the glory of victory and the potential chagrin of seeing one’s horse finish far behind.

For the 100th anniversary of the Kentucky Derby in 1974, however, all bets were off.

From a record 290 nominations, 23 went to post. That the winner was the betting favorite at 1.50-to-1 was actually a fluke. Cannonade (by Bold Bidder) won the race by a convincing 2 ¼ lengths from Hudson County (Black Mountain), who was part of the mutuel field, and it tells us a great deal about the perceived difference among the contenders that the field was only 5.20-to-1 in 1974. The field, comprised of 10 racers, was the fourth-favorite betting interest, behind only the Woody Stephens-trained entry of Cannonade and Judger (Damascus), the Sigmund Sommer-owned entry of Rube the Great (Bold Lad) and Accipiter (Damascus) at 5.10-to-1, and Santa Anita Derby winner Agitate (Advocator), ridden by Bill Shoemaker at 3.40-to1.

By himself, Cannonade would not have been the favorite; he had won only a single race in 1974, the Stepping Stone Purse at Churchill Downs the weekend before the Derby. The colt who would have been the race favorite on his own was Seth Hancock’s Judger, who’d been bred by A.B. “Bull” Hancock at Claiborne Farm and then purchased out of the dispersal of the elder Hancock’s assets after his early death in 1972.

Judger had come into 1974 as the winner of a maiden who had shown much promise to finish third in the Futurity Stakes at two. Following second-place finishes in the Bahamas Stakes and the Fountain of Youth, the rangy dark brown colt had progressed so strongly for trainer Stephens that Judger improved to win the Florida Derby, with Cannonade second. Judger had come back at the end of March to finish third in the Flamingo at Hialeah, then rebounded to win the Blue Grass in April and be the strong individual favorite for the Derby.

He finished eighth, defeating 15 horses.

In the Derby itself, Judger had been 19th at the three-quarters pole, 15th at the mile. In contrast, Cannonade had lain in mid-pack (11th) to the half-mile, then was fifth after six furlongs, and he had the lead at the mile pole.

Case closed. Angel Cordero illustrated why he was an exceptional race-riding and pace-sensitive jockey, the colt’s sire Bold Bidder showed that yet another son of Bold Ruler was able to sire classic stock, and trainer Stephens moved fully into the limelight as a trainer of classic racers.

Stephens won his first Kentucky Derby with Cannonade, his fifth starter for the race, and his closest previous finish was a second with Cain Hoy Stable’s Never Bend (Nasrullah) in 1963. He subsequently had five more horses who won or placed in the classic, led by 1984 Kentucky Derby winner Swale (Seattle Slew) for Claiborne. In addition, Stephens regularly conditioned top-quality racers in multiple divisions annually, including the extraordinary sire but non-stakes winner Danzig for Henryk de Kwiatkowski, and an unprecedented five consecutive winners of the Belmont Stakes.

No jockey had won more Kentucky Derbys than Shoemaker, but Cannonade was the first Kentucky Derby winner ridden by Angel Cordero, who subsequently won the 1976 Derby on Bold Forbes (Irish Castle) and the 1985 Derby on Spend a Buck (Buckaroo), both of whom led from wire to wire.

A Kentucky-bred owned and raced by John Olin, who was closely associated with John Gaines at Gainesway Farm, Cannonade was the first classic winner for his sire Bold Bidder, who became known as just about the best stallion son of Bold Ruler. With numerous important stakes winners in the States and abroad, Bold Bidder reached the apogee of his fame with Horse of the Year and multiple classic winner Spectacular Bid.

Having won three graded stakes as a 2-year-old, Cannonade added only one the next year: the Kentucky Derby. But he did finish third in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. The winner of those classics was the classically pedigreed Little Current. The best American-raced offspring by the French-bred English Derby winner Sea-Bird (Dan Cupid), Little Current was a Darby Dan homebred from a broodmare by 2,000 Guineas winner My Babu and half-sister to 1963 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Chateaugay, a son of 1955 Kentucky Derby winner Swaps (Khaled).

The best colt on the day, under the conditions, was Cannonade, but the 100th Kentucky Derby surely was a crowded house.