HOT SPRINGS -- There are usually one or two unheralded 2-year-old horses housed in the barns of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort destined to emerge as Kentucky Derby candidates. Their sort is no more than a fast win or a freakish work from turning heads.
Fans and horsemen might see such an unexpected wunderkind on Friday's opening day. Two-year-old horses will race in the feature, the $150,000 5 1/2-furlong Advent Stakes. Post time for the Advent is scheduled for 3:46 p.m.
A Derby hopeful might figuratively drop from a bright blue afternoon like Bill Simon's Barber Road last winter. As the longest shot in the field, he finished second, a half-length back in the 6 1/2-furlong Lively Shively Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27, 2021.
It was a perfect precursor for Barber Road, who seemed to specialize in runner-up finishes. Barber Road, a son of Race Day, was winless as a 3-year-old but nevertheless turned his first four 3-year-old starts for trainer John Ortiz into a run from the 14th stall of the 2022 Grade I Kentucky Derby.
"I've gone there and watched the race, but that was my first real experience with it all the way around," Ortiz, 36, said. "It was a fantastic experience, the pageantry, the excitement, the hospitality of Churchill Downs to the horsemen and their horses. It was pretty nice."
Ortiz and Barber Road's jockey Reylu Gutierrez were in their first Derby and the first daydream of every horseman. Off at 60-1, Barber Road turned into the Churchhill homestretch and, as he raced through the roar of 147,294 patrons, unwittingly gave his trainer and rider hope.
Barber Road had made gut-wrenchingly close finishes a habit since his last previous race at Churchill. At Oaklawn, he began the 2022 campaign with his first of four Derby points prep races in the 1-mile Smarty Jones on Jan. 1. Barber Road finished second at 8-1 in a field of 13, 2 lengths behind the winner. Four weeks later, he again finished second, 1 1/2 lengths back at 11-1 in the Grade III 1 1/16-mile Southwest Stakes.
Next came the Grade II 1 1/16-mile Rebel Stakes. This time, Barber Road, off at 6-1, finished third but just 3/4 lengths behind the 75-1 winner Un Ojo. With a total of 32 Derby qualifying points, it was too early to know for sure if Barber Road was in, but he became a lock with 40 more earned for his second-place finish at 10-1, 2 3/4 lengths behind the Grade I Arkansas Derby champion Cyberknife.
Next came the dream.
Gutierrez discussed it three days before the Derby with a beat writer for Fingerlakes Gaming and Racetrack, home to his career's start in Farmington, N.Y.
"When we're walking out from the jockey's room to the paddock, I know that will be really special to me," Gutierrez said.
For trainers, the height of the Derby's prelude is their long, televised walk as they accompany their entrants from the barns to the paddock.
"I was very excited about that walkover," said Ortiz, who was joined by his wife Crystal and sons Xavier, then 9, and 7-year-old Jayden for perhaps the most celebrated stroll in American sports. "My oldest stuck his chest out. He had a big, proud face. I thought I was going to take in the walk for myself, like, 'Oh my God, this is all I've ever wanted to do,' but I turned around and looked at my son, and I was more proud of how proud my son was. He looked proud. He was taking it in. I mean, he was waving to the crowd and everything. It brought a tear to my eye. It made me feel real proud that that's how my son felt."
Barber Road raced last into the first turn of the Derby. He was 17th with a quarter of a mile left but had advanced to 9 lengths off the lead. Widest of all around the turn, he would remain clear of interference through the finish. Barber Road dug in to finish sixth, a mere 4 3/4 lengths behind 80-1 winner Rich Strike.
"We did have a shot," Ortiz said. "The winner moved to the rail, and we were way out in the middle, but we made a good move, and we were only about 4 lengths back. Sixth place in the Kentucky Derby is not bad."
At a glance
2022-23 OAKLAWN SEASON
WHEN Friday-May 6
WHERE Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Hot Springs
NOTE Racing is scheduled to run Fridays-Sundays, except for Christmas weekend (Dec. 23-25) and Easter Sunday (April 9).