1988 Kentucky Derby - Winning Colors

The lady is a champ, and the Kentucky Derby press corps won't have trainer Wayne Lukas to kick around anymore.

Winning Colors, the last of the 17 horses to leave the barn Saturday and be led on the long walk from the backstretch to the paddock at Churchill Downs, was first the rest of the afternoon--out of the gate, at the wire and every step in between--to win the 114th Derby by a neck over Forty Niner in a manner that Lukas thought she would.

In becoming the third filly--after Regret in 1915 and Genuine Risk in 1980--to win the Derby, Winning Colors enabled Lukas to end his frustrations here. In 7 years of trying with 10 colts and 2 fillies who couldn't finish higher than third, Lukas finally made it to the winner's circle--with a salt-and-pepper-colored Amazon who admittedly got more care from his 30-year-old son, Jeff, than from the boss of the organization.

Winning Colors' run to the roses came in the same way that she defeated all comers in five of her six previous races. From the No. 11 stall, jockey Gary Stevens quickly broke Gene Klein's 1,100-pound filly from the gate and allowed her to lope along on an easy lead most of the way around, leaving her with enough in the boiler to hold off Forty Niner at the wire.

After Forty Niner, it was three lengths back to Risen Star, who had a half-length on Proper Reality, the fourth-place finisher. Private Terms, undefeated in seven races and trying to become the fifth unbeaten horse to win a Derby, instead wound up ninth, losing by more than 6 lengths and becoming the ninth straight favorite to fall in the opening round of the Triple Crown.

"My horse was galloping, and I seemed to have a lot of horse going down the backstretch," said Chris Antley, Private Term's rider. "But then he just seemed to quit running. By the time we got to the 5/16th pole, I was talking to myself. I was asking, 'Where's it at?' "

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-05-0...