A Look Back at Quack's California Derby

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. This week is a recap of the 1972 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields won by Quack. Written by Giles E. Wright with the headline, "The California Derby Cancelled Some Trips to the Kentucky Derby," the story appeared in the May 1, 1972 issue.

Quack, a big, robust T. V. Lark colt which was not nominated for the Kentucky Derby, left four that were in his wake during the running of the $119,400 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields on April 22. Ketuckian, another T. V. Lark colt, was a commendable second, and thus did earn the trip back to his home state with the feature at Churchill Downs on May 6 in mind.

Solar Salute, the 13-10 favorite to make the California Derby his eighth straight victory of 1972, finished fourth, beaten four lengths, and will remain in California. So will Royal Owl, generally regarded as the West's top 3-year-old prior to the Santa Anita Derby. Royal Owl looked more like his old free-striding self in the first six furlongs but not like a 10-furlong horse in the last three furlongs. He finished fifth, as the third choice at 26-10, and trainer John Canty hopes to give him a rest before racing him again.

"After all, he won't be 3-years-old until May 5," Canty said.

Quack's actual third birthday will be reached two days after that and he did not make his first start until Feb. 1, only two weeks before Kentucky Derby nominations closed. He was well beaten in his first two starts and by the time he had won a race, it was Feb. 25.

Margum, the other Kentukcy Derby eligible in the Golden Gate race, finished last in the field of seven.

Third in the nine-furlong race contested adjacent to San Franciso Bay on a perfect afternoon was The Pie Host, which had raced with a $12,500 claiming tag as late as January. Since then, he had won the Contra Costa and had been beaten by only a head in the Gold Rush Stakes, both at a mile over Golden Gate Fields' main track.

He ran a big race at odds of nearly 25-1.

Royal Owl donned blinkers for the first time in a race, reminding many of the 1:34 3/5 mile work he turned in between races at Santa Anita on march 11. The big colt has not won since then and there are some who contend he has not been quite the same effortless runner.

Jockey Danny Velasquez broke him from the outside post in the California Derby and hustled him to a three-length lead. He looked more like the Royal Owl of last winer and Canty said he was pleased with the way the colt ran through the early furlongs.

The early fractions of :22 1/5, :45 1/5, and 1:09 1/5 belonged to the big bay, but The Pie Host had been dogging him and took over the lead before reaching the mile mark in 1:35 2/5.

Solar Salute, which had broken in the air, was then third, and Quack, ready to take a late advantage from the quick early pace, was only a head further back. Kentuckian, too, was rallying from well back.

Between the eighth-mile and sixteenth poles, Solar Salute and Quack bumped hard enough for the stewards to post the inquiry sign but not enough to alter the order of finish.

Quack moved on inexorably to his two-length victory in 1:48 1/5, a full second slower than the stakes record established last year by Unconscious, which finished fifth as favorite in the Kentucky Derby.

Preston Madden's homebred Kentuckian moved up steadily along the inside through the last quarter, and, briefly, at the eighth pole appeared to have a shot at the $74,400 first money. Quack leveled off then and Kentuckian had to settle for the $18,000 second prize, which boosted his total earnings to $46,275.

Kentuckian has not won a stakes but he was fourth in the San Felipe Handicap, Santa Anita Derby, and Will Rogers Stakes in his three starts previous to the California Derby. Before that, he had won maiden and allowance races at Santa Anita back to back, both at 1 1/16 miles.

Trainer Charlie Whittingham, when reminded of the supplementary possibilities of the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes for Quack, indicated he preferred to remain in California.

"There's plenty to run for out here without traveling all over the country," he said. "I wouldn't take him East for either of those races unless the owner (Millard Waldheim of Bwamazon Farm) insisted. Remember, Quack was a may foal and you know those horses that go running all around the country don't last too long."

If Quack were to be supplemented, Whittingham said he would prefer the Belmont in order "to catch those horses when they're kind of worn down." Then the leading trainer of 1971 added: "The next time I go to the Derby I want to be about five lengths on top at the start. I've ruined about three horses going back there when the horses shouldn't have run. There are a lot of horses that go to the Derby that don't belong, and maybe we don't have a derby horse in California this year. Did you ever think of that?"

Whittingham estimates Quack to be 16.2 or 16.3 hands, "and big everywhere."

He is out of a Princequillo mare, Quillon, and still is learning to run, according to Bill Shoemaker, who in the California Derby was winning his 93rd $100,000 race. The winner carried 121 pounds, Kentuckian and The Pie Host each had 114, and Solar Salute and Royal Owl each toted 124.

Solar Salute's owner, J. J. Elmore Sr., a neighbor of Richard Nixon when the western White House is occupied, already had invited the President to the 1972 Kentucky Derby. The Master of San Clemente Ranch was at home with round-the-clock nursing at the time the California Derby was run, as the result of complications following a broken right arm near the shoulder more than a month ago. The day had not been a good one for him and shortly after he saw his homebred Solar Salute defeated (via a regional telecast), Elmore's condition worsened and he was taken to Scripps Hospital at La Jolla.

The telecast, the first for the track, may have cut into attendance slightly, although the 20,444 on had was the largest crowd of the season and the $1,989,102 wagered set an all-time Golden Gate mark for handle.