Delahoussaye: Jockey in Waiting for Risen Star

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was like having Olivier read for a part. Or asking Astaire how he might look in a tux. If you were producing a musical, would you ask Barbra Streisand to send over a couple of tapes?

Eddie Delahoussaye almost won the second Kentucky Derby he ever rode in, finishing second with Woodchopper in 1981, three-quarters of a length behind Pleasant Colony. The next year, Delahoussaye brought a confirmed plodder, Gato Del Sol, from 16 lengths behind to win the Derby at 21-1 odds.

In 1983, Delahoussaye was in the Derby winner’s circle again, with Sunny’s Halo. He became only the fourth jockey in the history of the race to have consecutive winners.

What might have helped Delahoussaye in those Derbies was his familiarity with Churchill Downs. In 1976, Delahoussaye won 57 races here during the spring meeting, setting a record. It was a mark that didn’t fall until Pat Day broke it in 1983.

With 384 winners, Delahoussaye led the country in wins in 1978, and his career hasn’t exactly flagged since he arrived in California the next year. Last year, the Daily Racing Form credited Delahoussaye’s horses with earning $7.2 million, which ranked the 36-year-old rider 10th nationally.

So what was Delahoussaye doing at Churchill Downs Tuesday morning, virtually auditioning for a part in this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby?

Well, it was all part of a grand scheme orchestrated by Louie Roussel, the son of a New Orleans streetcar conductor who became a millionaire by selling oil leases.

Young Roussel, a lawyer, a horse owner and trainer and the owner of the Fair Grounds track in New Orleans, has a viable Derby contender in Risen Star, a hulking son of Secretariat who has won six of eight races, including the Louisiana Derby at his owner’s track and the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland.

Delahoussaye, a native of New Iberia, La., used to ride regularly for Roussel, but because Delahoussaye had never ridden Risen Star, he was brought in from Los Angeles--at Roussel’s expense--to try the colt in a 6-furlong workout.

Roussel is a slim, mustachioed man who seems to always be dressed in black--a baseball cap with a script R, a light jacket and jeans, and underneath he might very well be wearing his lucky sweat shirt, which has Mickey Mouse on the front. Without seeing costuming, Roussel could travel with a road company doing “Grease.”

In this long-running mystery over the identity of Risen Star’s jockey, Roussel has been part Hamlet and part Bear Bryant. Why he couldn’t decide between Delahoussaye and another 2-time Derby winner, Jacinto Vasquez, who rode Risen Star to victory in the Lexington, has been a puzzle all over the Churchill Downs backstretch.

Vasquez, meantime, because he had ridden Granacus to his win in last week’s Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, had another trainer on the fence.

By the time Delahoussaye hopped on Risen Star’s back Tuesday, Pat Collins, Granacus’ trainer, was saying that Vasquez had already given him a firm commitment on his colt.

Risen Star worked splendidly, although coming off the track at least one witness heard Roussel say that he had hoped for a time about a second faster. But on a track that was a dull fast, the horse was clocked in 1:13, galloping out an extra furlong in 1:27 1/5.

Back at the barn, while Delahoussaye killed a little time before boarding an early afternoon flight back to California, where he will ride at Hollywood Park today, it was expected that Roussel would anoint him with the Derby assignment. After all, Olivier hadn’t flubbed his lines; Astaire’s formal wear was a perfect fit, Streisand wasn’t off key.

Instead, Roussel said: “I’ll make an announcement as soon as I’ve had time to review the films.”

Apparently, Roussel has even videotaped earlier workouts, and he wanted to compare those with Tuesday’s exercise.

Late Tuesday afternoon, after Roussel had saddled a 4-year-old colt who went on to win the eighth race, he said that he still hadn’t seen the tapes. Asked if his choice was between Delahoussaye and Craig Perret, Roussel seemed surprised and said: “Perret? Where’d you dig up that one on me?” Then he walked off.

Perret, who finished second on Bet Twice in last year’s Derby and Preakness and then won the Belmont with the same colt, spent most of the morning around Risen Star’s barn. Perret, who has worked Risen Star but never ridden him in a race, would seem to be another character in this backstage intrigue at the Derby.

In the beginning, Delahoussaye was handling this theater of the absurd with equanimity. There is no other Derby mount available, he likes Risen Star and believes that the colt might give him a third Derby victory. Hollywood Park is closed Monday and Tuesday, so he wasn’t missing any business back home.

Delahoussaye even squeezed in his first helicopter ride Monday, going over to Lexington, 75 miles to the east, to work a horse that he will ride in a stake at Churchill Downs Friday.

But after Risen Star’s workout Tuesday, Delahoussaye stood in front of the opposite end of the colt’s barn, near where trainer Charlie Whittingham and Derby candidate Lively One are, and seemed to be losing patience.

“In this business, anything can happen, so nothing really shocks me,” Delahoussaye said. “But I wouldn’t be putting up with this stuff if the horse didn’t have a good shot. The man (Roussel) has taken good care of me coming here, and even offered me a retainer if I’d come.

“But he better tell me before I leave for California, or I’m not coming back. Not knowing gets everybody upset. You have to worry about rooms for your family, and tickets. If I don’t know in an hour, I’ll just send (Roussel) my bill.”

Delahoussaye could still be offered the mount and still accept, but if that doesn’t happen, he will be at Hollywood Park Saturday, riding in a $75,000 stakes race. If that’s the end to this pulp mystery, that possible third Derby win will have to wait until next year.

Horse Racing Notes

Mi Preferido, sore in back after running fifth in the Arkansas Derby, won’t run in the Kentucky Derby, and neither will No More Flowers, who ran fourth in the Derby Trial. . . . It looks as if trainer Jack Van Berg will try to win the Derby for the second straight year, starting the longshot Din’s Dancer Saturday, with John Lively riding. Van Berg won his first Derby with Alysheba.

A field is 18 is now likely--Private Terms, Winning Colors, Forty Niner, Cefis, Regal Classic, Risen Star, Brian’s Time, Proper Reality, Lively One, Seeking the Gold, Kingpost, Granacus, Stalwars, Sea Trek, Din’s Dancer, Purdue King, Intensive Command and Jim’s Orbit. . . . Winning Colors worked a half-mile Tuesday in :49, with trainer Wayne Lukas saying that he just wanted her to get accustomed to the track.

Risen Star will be only the second son of Secretariat to run in the Derby, 15 years after the sire swept the Triple Crown. General Assembly was the first Secretariat offspring to run, finishing second to Spectacular Bid in 1979. . . . Risen Star was bred by Arthur Hancock and Leone Peters, who won the Derby with Gato Del Sol and Eddie Delahoussaye. . . . Louie Roussel bought Risen Star as an unraced 2-year-old for $300,000.