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By BROCK VERGAKIS Associated Press Writer
SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (AP) -- One of the horses in Saturday's 132nd running of the Kentucky Derby learned to come out of the gate at a humble public track in Utah. Not only that, Brother Derek -- named for a Mormon missionary -- is the 3-1 favorite to win.
Brother Derek was sold by a Utah businessman more than a year ago as part of a "pinhooking" operation, where horses are bought young, trained here and then sold to the highest bidder. The horse's former trainer, John Brocklebank, said many people would be surprised to see the public park where Brother Derek trained.
"It would blow their minds. There could be a little kid with a pony running aside a race horse," Brocklebank said.
At the suburban track south of Salt Lake City, two of the reasons Utah hasn't entered into national prominence for horse racing are clearly visible -- snowcapped mountains to the east and west and a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple to the north. It can be cold here in the winter, and gambling is prohibited in Utah, where the Mormon church dominates politics and culture.
"It's not a racing state," said Jim Gluckson, senior director of event communications for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
Utah has about 3,000 to 4,000 people in race horse breeding and training, and even more owners, said Stuart Sprouse, 69, president of the Utah Quarter Horse Association. There are probably about 100,000 race horses in the state, he said.
"At one time, Utah was about second or third in the nation for breeding horses for races," Sprouse said. But as older people got out the business, a new generation hasn't carried on, he said. Additionally, a lot of trainers and breeders have moved to New Mexico, where the moneymaking opportunities are better, he said.
Without legal gambling, the state's small but ambitious horse community looks elsewhere to turn a profit racing and selling Utah-trained thoroughbreds and quarter horses. Several hundred horses train at tracks in South Jordan and St. George each year.
Art Lovato, program coordinator for the Salt Lake County Equestrian Center, said the winter months can be brutal.
"There's times they can't get on the track when it's frozen," Lovato said. "The exercise riders work hard and when they come back their face is frozen."
Brocklebank compares training a horse in Utah to living in a one-bedroom shack, while many of the other horses that will appear in the Kentucky Derby will have lived in the equivalent of a 15-bedroom palace.
"To have a horse like Brother Derek come up from the Salt Lake County equestrian track and come and play with these boys, it's just an incredible story," he said.
It's one that could be repeated.
Less than a month ago, Brocklebank began training Brother Derek's brother. The two horses share a father and their mothers are sisters.
"The colts are a little similar," he said. "This horse is a little thicker. Brother Derek is more like a wide receiver. This one is like a linebacker."
The inability to gamble in Utah -- and for horsemen to reap a percentage of it -- has helped make the state a training ground for horses that compete in surrounding states.
Chad Giles, who trains horses across the street from the equestrian center, said Utah would get more recognition for its horse training if large tracks supported by gambling operated here.
"We have very, very outstanding bred horses and running horses. Horses from Utah can go to California, to New Mexico, anywhere, to compete. The problem is in Utah we have no pari-mutuel betting," he said. "If you want to run for real good money, you have to pay to take them to races in other states."
Some tracks depend on it.
"The majority of our horsemen come from Utah. That's always been the case," said Joan Ramos, director of corporate operations and development at Wyoming Downs in Evanston, Wyo.
Friday was opening day at Les Bois Horse Racing Park near Boise, Idaho. Bret Vickery, who trains horses in St. George in southern Utah, where the winters are mild, was headed there.
"It's a shame I have to go out of state to make the money I do. However, I love Utah for the climate," Vickery said.
He said Les Bois is the major race track in the Mountain West. His horses have raced throughout the West, including AB What a Runner, which won more than $1 million at the All-American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico in 2002.
He's also seen other quarter horses and thoroughbreds trained in Utah go onto success.
Many in the Utah horse industry said they'll be rooting for Brother Derek -- named for former owner Craig Tillotson's son -- on Saturday, even if the 3-year-old thoroughbred now belongs to a Californian. To them, Brother Derek is still one of Utah's own.
"We all have on our cheerleading outfits," Brocklebank said.
-------- On the Net: www.slcoequestrian.org
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-05-05-06 1309MDT
