Gryder Seeks First Derby With Trojan Nation

Trojan Nation will attempt to make history May 7 as the first horse in more than 80 years to break his maiden in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

For veteran jockey Aaron Gryder, however, the challenge aboard the Wood Memorial (gr. I) runner-up is a welcome one.

A respected journeyman on the ultra-competitive New York and Southern California circuits, Gryder's nearly 30-year career has included more than 3,700 wins and purse earnings in excess of $118 million. Most notably he piloted Well Armed to a record-setting 22-length victory in the 2008 Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).

Gryder, preparing for his first Kentucky Derby since finishing 13th aboard Songandaprayer   in 2001, returned his tack to New York full-time in the fall. That circumstance eventually helped match an unknown colt with a willing rider when California-based trainer Patrick Gallagher shipped Julie Gilbert and Aaron Sones' homebred Trojan Nation to the East Coast to try their hand on the Derby trail April 9 in the $1 million Wood Memorial.

"As soon as the overnight came out, I saw I was on one for them in the Wood," said Gryder, currently a finalist for the 2016 Mike Venezia Memorial Award. "He had run five times prior, so I went to the computer and I had watched all of his races by the time Aaron Sones called. I like to study horses, especially in the bigger races, and I told him, 'If I'm riding a maiden in a million-dollar race for you, I assume that he's shown talent and you had high hopes for him.'"

The bay colt had three third-place finishes from four starts against two-turn maidens going back to the fall, including a February showing at Santa Anita Park behind a well-regarded Bob Baffert trainee, next-out Rebel (gr. II) winner Cupid.

"By watching him, he had ran some decent races," Gryder said. "A couple of them, he had laid back and made a little bit of a run. Once, they laid close to the pace and it was a slow pace but he flattened out.

"Then in his last start, you could tell that he broke well enough and then Drayden Van Dyke took a pretty good hold of him and got him back to last," he said. "He settled really good, ended up following the favorite, who was back there as well, and made a good run with him midway through the race but that horse out-footed him late. But it looked like that was his best race—when he settled back and just made that one run. He showed more interest in the last eighth of a mile than he did early on."

Sones and Gallagher, ostensibly encouraged enough by the colt's latest start to take a calculated shot at a spot in the Run for the Roses, were left with the same impression of the developing Trojan Nation.

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"I felt that it was his best chance to get his feet underneath him and Aaron told me that's what he wanted to do in the Wood—just sit back there and make one run," Gryder said. "Then I talked to Paddy and he told me to just ride my race. So that's what I went into it thinking."

Breaking from post 3 as the longest shot in the eight-horse field, Gryder stuck to his plan, taking hold of his charge and dropping the colt along the rail going into the first turn. The pair settled 17 lengths from the lead within the first quarter-mile, trailing off the edge of the television screen while Gryder remained unhurried as the field drew even further away on the backside. Resurfacing like a rocket on the far turn, Trojan Nation cut the corner for home and quickly caught up to the embattled leaders, Matt King Coal and Outwork, in the stretch.

The hard-charging colt bumped a tiring Matt King Coal as he dove through a tight opening on the rail. Quickly regaining his composure inside the sixteenth pole, Trojan Nation hooked up with Outwork and proved an audacious opponent, trading bobs with the winner in the final yards before the wire.

But, according to his jockey, the horse who previously hadn't finished within 1 3/4 lengths of a winner returned from the race seemingly unaware that he had actually come up a head short of the long sought-after career milestone.

"He doesn't know he lost," Gryder said. "He was in front a jump before and a jump after, and he galloped out in front. It's the first time he had been in front of a horse at the end of the race. I think he came out of that race with a lot of confidence."

Even without one in the win column, the bold effort was enough to lock down a spot Saturday, when Trojan Nation will become the 10th maiden starter in the Kentucky Derby since 1937 and first since Nationalore in 1998. Only three maidens have won the Louisville classic in the race's 142-year history: Buchanan in 1884, 1919 Triple Crown winner Sir Barton, and Brokers Tip in 1933.

For his part, Gryder isn't one to be as easily discouraged by something like an 82-year shutout, choosing instead to focus on his mount's budding talent.

"You're going to get a lot of things thrown at you in the Derby and it's good to know that a horse like him has matured in the right ways and he obviously took a huge step up in the Wood Memorial," he said. "I think he learned a lot from it and I surely learned something from him, knowing I can sit back there, that he didn't mind the dirt, that he didn't mind the mud in his face.

"He didn't mind me waiting on him and he was quick to respond underneath me around the five-sixteenths pole, when I asked him to really pick it up, and I also know that he's not afraid to be in tight spots."

The 45-year-old jockey, a self-described "student of the game" who rode his first of three Runs for the Roses at age 22 aboard Mi Cielo in 1993 and finished 14th, is eager for another opportunity to try for the most coveted crown in American racing.

"It's an exciting day. I've always enjoyed it, always respected it, even when I was a little kid. Every rider wants to win the Derby," he said. "I've just learned that you have to give your horse a chance and not get caught up in the fact that it's the Derby. Some people say just ride it like it's another race but it's not just another race. You have to respect how tough it is to win.

"Some riders never get the chance to ride it and some riders are in it every year, but every one that you ride is special," added the rider, who also rode Honour and Glory to finish 18th in the race's 1996 edition. "You're one of 20 riders in the country on one of 20 horses; you have a chance and you have to ride it like you have a chance. It's an American event, it's not just a race, it's the greatest two minutes in sports and it's an honor to be a part of it."