This is a cool story, a group of friends chipped in to buy this horse last year. One of them has been working for years at the beer store where I always go to buy my suds. He always talks about this horse he owns and how its gonna make him alot of money, it just won the million dollar Arkansas Derby. It's a lucky spot working at that beer store, Frank Wychek worked there while he was in college.

'Philly is coming' to Kentucky Derby

Local owners of Afleet Alex ecstatic about record-breaking win in Arkansas

By DICK JERARDI

jerardd@phillynews.com


HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - When the Arkansas Derby field was about to make the final bend into the homestretch and it was obvious Afleet Alex and Jeremy Rose were going to run away from the nine other horses, Joe Lerro began to jump. He kept jumping. He seemed to take one leap for every stride Alex was taking in the stretch. He was also screaming incoherently.

Right behind him, Chuck Zacney was watching the same monitor next to the Oaklawn Park paddock. With his 6-year-old son Alex perched on his shoulders, Zacney had one thought as the first horse the group of five partners ever bought was pulling so far ahead that the others were disappearing in the distance.

"We're going to Kentucky," Zacney kept thinking to himself.

They are indeed. Kentucky Derby Week, the partners (four of whom went to high school within a few miles of one another), their families and about 150 of their closest friends will be arriving in Louisville, where they will be ensconced in the Galt House, hard by the Ohio River, with the overflow in a Holiday Inn out by the airport.

"That town is going down," Lerro promised. "We're going to destroy it. Philly is coming."

After Lerro stopped jumping and screaming, he hugged everybody in sight. Later, he asked his wife, Colleen, where she had watched the race. When she told him she was right next to him and he had picked her up, he realized that he had, for those 24 seconds, basically, lost his mind. And why not?

Afleet Alex had not just won his way to the Derby on May 7. He had demolished the field Saturday, winning by 8 lengths, the largest margin in the 69-year history of the Arkansas Derby.

The colt had run the mile and an eighth in 1:48.8. His final eighth had come in a sensational 11.74 seconds after a fourth quarter in barely 24 seconds, a finish reserved for only the very best horses. Afleet Alex's time computed to a Beyer speed figure of 108, the kind of number that wins the Derby almost every year.

The aberration in Alex's past performances was the March 19 Rebel Stakes, when the colt had run last. Within a half hour of the race, trainer Tim Ritchey reported that the colt had been diagnosed with a lung infection. This being horse racing, where excuses, real and imagined, are as much a part of the game as exactas, many were skeptical.

"It was a fixable thing," Ritchey said Saturday.

And Ritchey got it fixed. Even though Alex had to miss several days of training and the trainer had to alter his schedule, he had the colt at his absolute best for the $1 million race. Alex has now won $1,315,800 and will run in the first $2 million Kentucky Derby.

"We're thrilled to death, especially after that last race," Zacney said. "What a comeback. Not that we ever had any doubt, but the feeling's back."

Take away the Rebel and two close seconds in the Champagne and Breeders' Cup, after tough trips and shaky rides, and Afleet Alex could be heading to Kentucky unbeaten in nine races. No matter, Alex, who began his career on June 26 at Delaware Park, will have the most compete resume in the field. He will enter the Derby with a real chance.

After taking it easy for 2 days, Alex will go back to the track tomorrow and then van to Churchill Downs on Wednesday. Ritchey will be driving right behind the van. Alex will have two workouts leading up to the Derby as Ritchey implements the finishing touches on a plan he drew up in December.

Improbably, for the second consecutive year, Philadelphia will be adopting one of the Derby favorites. Two of the owners went to Archbishop Ryan and Father Judge in the Northeast. Two went to Bensalem and Neshaminy, just across the line in Bucks County. One went to Holy Cross High in Delran, N.J. All spent serious time at the old Liberty Bell Park, now the Franklin Mills Mall.

After a celebration at the track that included some alcohol and a rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home," the Afleet Alex team met up a few miles away for dinner at "world famous" Doe's. Among the celebrants was Keith Jones, a 3 percent owner of Dan Borislow's Wild Desert. The $50,000 side bet between Borislow and the Alex team had been lost so decisively that Jones, the former Flyer and WIP personality, had come over to the other side.

"Wild Desert is going to finish in another 2 minutes,'' said Lerro, as everybody watched the replay in the restaurant. Jones just laughed along. Wild Desert was eighth, beaten by 15 ½ lengths. Despite the sideshow, this was about Afleet Alex.

"The horse is the star of our show," Ritchey said. "We're the supporting characters."

The trainer saw Alex train a few days before last year's Preakness at Timonium outside Baltimore. The owners paid $75,000 to buy him at a sale a few days after the Preakness.

At Doe's, Zacney toasted the horse, the trainer, the jockey and the experience. Not long after, Zacney and Lerro were betting $10,000 on which would go to sleep first.

"I make Joe 1-9," Ritchey said.

When last seen very late Saturday night, the supporting characters were disappearing into Smyly's ("topless oysters, steaks, seafood and more"), a bar that shares a parking lot with Doe's.

On to Kentucky.