LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — If I asked: Name the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer who wore a cowboy hat above this trademark sunglasses and mustache while walking with crutches, James Holzhauer wouldn’t be the only person with the correct answer.
Chip Woolley.
He scored with Mine That Bird, who dropped from the clouds to pay $103.20 at Churchill Downs on May 2, a decade ago this Thursday.
Now the questions get more difficult: If I asked you how much money Woolley’s stable has earned this year or why he won’t be at Churchill Downs this weekend after being a Derby fixture for years, I’d have to fill in the blanks.
According to the data at Equibase, Bennie L. Woolley Jr. has started horses in 44 races this season.
He’s won five times.
His stable has earned $87,352.
That might cover the feed and vet bills in the barns of Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher and the other Hall of Famers who typically rule this race.
Why won’t Chip Woolley be shaking hands and posing for pictures in the paddock Saturday after years of hanging out and basically being Chip Woolley?
He has work to do.
“I love coming to Churchill Downs but it’s kind of hectic down here,” Woolley said. “We’ve got two meets going on.”
Down here is the same spot that launched Woolley and Mine That Bird to their unlikely score over Baffert (Pioneerof the Nile), Pletcher (three horses), D. Wayne Lukas (Flying Private) and Nick Zito (Nowhere to Hide), four Derby-winning trainers who had starters in the 2009 race.
The New Mexico racing circuit.
Winning the Derby with Mine That Bird was supposed to change Woolley’s training profile. It’s supposed to change the profile of any trainer whose horse wins the race. It changed the profile of jockey Calvin Borel, who rode the horse with poise and precision,.
It didn’t come packaged with the same benefits for Woolley.
Again, according to Equibase, because of the $1.417 million Mine That Bird won at Churchill Downs, Woolley’s stable earned more than $2 million in 2009. Mine That Bird went on to finish second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont. Not great but hardly awful.
In the 10 succeeding racing campaigns, Woolley’s stable has earned slightly more than $2.7 million.
No Derby horses.
The closest he’s gotten to a Derby horse, is looking at the 2009 Derby trophy that he keeps in his personal safe. Ask Woolley for his Derby pick, and he’ll make a case for either Roadster or Tacitus.
No Triple Crown horses. Mine That Bird finished his career running for Lukas. The gelding, now 13, lives the retired life on a farm in Roswell. N.M.
No sustained presence on the Kentucky racing circuit, which was Woolley’s dream or at least his goal.
“It was just a situation with my leg where I couldn’t do what I wanted to do,” he said. “I wasn’t healthy enough.
“It wasn’t until Aug. 14, 2009 that (Louisville orthopedic surgeon) Dr. Raymond Shea told me that I was going to be able to keep my leg because of the all the infections I had. I was taking antibiotics for eight or nine months.
“It wasn’t a good time to try to get established in Kentucky, even though people knew my name. I couldn’t get around. It’s unfortunate but that’s just the way it was.”
Remember the crutches? That’s why I mentioned them in the opening paragraph. Woolley shattered his right leg in a motorcycle accident prior to arriving for the Kentucky Derby — and walked with crutches for eight months.
When he was finally ready to open a small stable in Louisville to take advantage of the love he earned while winning the most famous horse race in the world, the dots never connected.
So Woolley, 55, has remained in New Mexico, grinding on one of racing’s low-major circuits, primarily at Sunland Park.
According to Equibase, Woolley’s last win came with Short Pockets, a 4-year old filly bred in New Mexico. That was April 2. It was a $28,500 allowance race. Two weeks earlier, Woolley scored with Tax Money in an $8,700 claimer.
Woolley said he trains about 22 horses and races at three spots in the southwestern part of the country, living in his recreational vehicle.
That’s a long run from the $3 million purse that will be on the line late Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.
“Mine That Bird took us on a wonderful, wonderful ride,” Woolley said. “Changed my life. People still want to take pictures and talk about Mine That Bird.
“Like every other trainer, you’re always hoping to find that horse that will get you there again.
“But it’s extremely hard to do. We just haven’t found that horse. But we’ll keep trying.”
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