Dr. Kendall Hansen Relaxes with Longshot Derby Hope

What does the cast of owners look like for the 143^rd Run for the Roses? Well, there are enough reclusive figures vying for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) trophy May 6 that we’re dubbing this the Silent Derby. Good luck hunting down quotes from Calumet Farm (three starters) owner Brad Kelley or Klaravich Stable’s Seth Klarman.

That is not a problem, thankfully, for anyone wanting to find out the skinny on JACK Cincinnati Casino Spiral Stakes (G3) winner Fast and Accurate. The Derby longshot is owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen, a pain management specialist who will personally ship in from northern Kentucky for the week’s festivities. Dr. Hansen’s first grab for the roses came five years ago with his gray streak of a namesake Hansen, the 2011 Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner and 2-year-old male champion, and the good doctor made his presence felt throughout that season leading up to the classics.

Although he gained notoriety for wanting to paint his horse’s tail blue, as well as for the retinue of stylishly dressed, attractive young ladies who shadowed him around the big races, Dr. Hansen is serious and passionate about his horses, particularly Hansen. The Tapit   colt stood one season at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, and Hansen acquired dozens of mares to breed to him. He was left disappointed and with a lot of mares when the equine Hansen was sold to Korea.

Although he largely cornered the market on Hansens, some were bred elsewhere, so the human Hansen also buys some of his namesake’s progeny. This was the case with the gray or roan Fast and Accurate, for whom Hansen parted with $85,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales’ April 2-year-olds in training sale.

“I thought he’d go for $115,000, so I was tickled,” he said this week. “I bred 40 Hansens and have kept 15 of them. I got up to nearly 60 broodmares to breed to him before the rug was pulled out from under me and he was sent to Korea.”

Hansen has since sold off all but 10 broodmares and is more comfortable with his horse interests being a hobby instead of too much of a business. In that vein, he is also enjoying the run-up to the Derby more this time around.

“It’s a lot more relaxing,” he said. “Last time, we had the 2-year-old champion and got so much attention all winter. I don’t have to worry about getting tickets for hundreds of people this time. I’ve got room for 18 in my suite and that’s it, so I’ll be better able to take it all in.”

Before Hansen began using his hands to relieve patients of spinal pain (Fast and Accurate is named for his medical skills), he used them to assemble Fords on an assembly line in Indianapolis. There, he encountered a co-worker who was collecting money from a bookie every Friday on wagers he’d made on horses. Hansen began reading handicapping books and apparently absorbed the information well.

“I paid cash for a sports car and was eating steak,” he said. “So I kept putting off going to medical school.”

Hansen eventually made it through med school at Indiana University and into horse ownership as well, mostly with claimers. One of the first mares he sent to be bred was Stormy Sunday, who first produced multiple winner Tapanna to the cover of Tapit before gifting the doctor with Hansen.

Fast and Accurate, out of the Green Dancer mareIt's Heidi's Dance, was not nominated to the Triple Crown series, so it cost $200,000 to supplement him. As a result, Hansen has reached out to Skychai Racing (Harvey Diamond and Jim Shircliff) and Olympic star skier Bode Miller to partner on Fast and Accurate. Skychai owned a piece of Hansen and Miller previously had bought into En Hanse, a 3-year-old colt who won the WEBN Stakes this season.

“Bode relates well with physiology from all the training he’s done in athletics,” Hansen noted. “He relates that to horses and is a good horseman who comes up with great ideas. Plus we have similar personalities and like to have fun.”

Hansen’s been having fun with Fast and Accurate, who won his last race as a 2-year-old going a mile last December and has won on the turf at Gulfstream Park and the synthetic surface at Turfway Park this season. He has won half of his six races and $340,362 to date.

So, how does the handicapper Hansen view the owner Hansen’s Derby hopeful?

“If I was strictly handicapping this and wasn’t participating, I’d be crossing my horse out,” Hansen stated. “He’s had one start on dirt and it wasn’t good, so that’s one reason to cross him out. The second reason is his speed figures.

“But he’s showing us more every time he goes to the track. He’s won three in a row and he’s been doing it with a low red blood cell count. Not below normal, but a very low normal. So we’re adding vitamins and iron to his diet, and he should have more to offer that last eighth of a mile. I think he’ll improve five lengths off his Spiral win.

“He’s had four works on the dirt now with two bullets and two other really good breezes. He’s one of three horses in the field who are undefeated this year, and I wouldn’t have put up the $200,000 unless I thought we had a chance. (Trainer) Mike Maker is pretty accurate; he doesn’t exaggerate, and he thinks we’re in the top six in this field. Hell, yes, I’ll be wagering.”

Doc Hansen is leaving the blue paint at home this time around, but he’s got 1,000 little squeezie toys with Fast and Accurate’s name on them he’ll be giving out to fans during the week.

“If he wins, those will be worth a couple of bucks on Ebay,” he said. “I want to take it all in this time without any stress and enjoy it.”

Don’t bet against him doing just that.