Nafzger Has a Way With Words

“He wrote the book on how to train horses.”

They’ve said this about many premier horsemen, from Ben and Jimmy Jones to Charlie Whittingham.

They can also say this about Carl Nafzger--literally. Horses--whether they were on the Texas farm where he grew up, or on the rodeo circuit where he competed, or at the racetrack where he trains--have been linked with Nafzger for most of his 57 years.

Years ago, Nafzger told himself that he’d like to write a book about what makes horses tick. When a publisher came along, in 1994, he didn’t blink.

“Traits of a Winner: The Formula for Developing Thoroughbred Racehorses,” hasn’t threatened Monty Roberts’ “The Man Who Listens to Horses” on the best-seller list, but it has gone into a second printing. Should Nafzger win the eighth race Saturday at Churchill Downs-- also known as the 125th Kentucky Derby--that might hype the sales of his book by a few copies.

Selling more books isn’t his priority, of course. Nafzger collected the roses the first time he ever ran a horse in the Derby, winning with Unbridled in 1990, and after being away from the race ever since, he could give the 20th century an appropriate send-off bookend when he runs Vicar at Churchill Downs.

“I just couldn’t get another horse back here after Unbridled,” Nafzger said. “We had some prospects over the years, but nothing ever materialized.”

Unbridled and Vicar may be alike in disposition--agreeable colts not difficult to handle--but compared to the 92-year-old Frances Genter, who raced Unbridled, the owner of Vicar, Jim Tafel, is a whippersnapper. Tafel, 75, bought Vicar as a yearling for $260,000. He was in publishing a lot longer than Nafzger, retiring as a magazine publisher 16 years ago.

Wired for sound by ABC at the 1990 Derby, Nafzger gave the race one of its most touching moments when he furnished a frail owner with failing eyesight an heart-pumping stretch call: “He’s taking the lead . . . He’s gonna win . . . He’s gonna win . . . He’s a winner, Mrs. Genter . . . You’ve won the Kentucky Derby, Mrs. Genter. Oh, Mrs. Genter, I love you!”

Tafel, who has homes near Chicago and in West Palm Beach, Fla., won an Eclipse Award with the the Nafzger-trained Banshee Breeze, the daughter of Unbridled who might be headed for Hollywood Park for her next race, but he’s never run a horse in the Derby.

“I’ll be so nervous,” he joked recently, “that Carl’s going to have to call the race just like he did for Mrs. Genter.”

Vicar is a son of Wild Again, winner in 1984 of the first Breeders’ Cup Classic ever run. Vicar’s dam, Escrow Agent, is a daughter of El Gran Senor, a top broodmare sire. These should translate to stamina, although Vicar, after winning the Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park, finished third at the same distance, behind Menifee and Cat Thief, in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 10. Cat Thief, outrun by Vicar in the Florida Derby, and Menifee are also running in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby.

“Horses aren’t any different than humans,” said Nafzger, practically paraphrasing from his book. “They’re entitled to mess up once in a while. Horses might even be better, because some people can mess up real bad sometimes. I think that when you get to this stage with a horse, you ought to be able to throw out one of his races.”

So Nafzger is throwing out Vicar’s Blue Grass, just as he discarded Unbridled’s Keeneland race nine years ago. To date, Unbridled’s road to the Derby is a duplicate of Vicar’s. Both colts won the Florida Derby; both couldn’t hold the lead and ran third in the Blue Grass.

In 1990, Nafzger lost his jockey, Pat Day, after the Florida Derby, and Craig Perret rode Unbridled in the Blue Grass and the Derby. Day settled for second in the Derby with Summer Squall, who gave him a win in the Preakness two weeks later.

This time, Shane Sellers, who has ridden Vicar the last four races, is sticking with Nafzger’s colt, even though Sellers could have ridden Stephen Got Even, trainer Nick Zito’s stakes-winning horse, on Saturday. Sellers, 32, has won three Churchill Downs titles since joining the Kentucky circuit in 1994, but he’s winless in nine Derbies, his best finish a third with Wild Gale in 1993.

Nafzger’s style is to train his own horse and disdain from analyzing the opposition. In 1990, in the three weeks from the Blue Grass through the Derby, his wife Wanda, a former school teacher who helps at the barn, kept all the newspapers away from her husband. She’s doing the same thing this year.

“I just don’t want to be distracted,” Nafzger said. “You read something you don’t like, and it just makes you mad. I don’t want to get caught up in all that. Last time, I didn’t watch any TV, either. Course I’ve always preferred a book to watching TV.”

Horse Racing Notes

Excellent Meeting, the filly who will run in either the Kentucky Derby or Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, worked five furlongs Sunday in 59 1/5 seconds. . . . The Dubai horses had their first works at Churchill. Worldly Mannerwent 1:29 4/5 for seven furlongs. Aljabrworked in 1:31 in company with another horse. . . . Trainer Dallas Keen said that Willie Martinez is a possibility to ride his Arkansas Derby winner, Valhol, in the Derby. “I don’t want to use Billy [Patin], because he’s got too much on his mind,” Keene said. “I’ve found that jocks with outside problems have trouble concentrating in races.” Patin won the Arkansas Derby with Valhol, but faces a state hearing about whether he used an electrical device--a battery--in the race. . . . Because of the Kentucky Derby’s 20-horse limit, Valhol may need the disputed first-place earnings from Arkansas in order to qualify for the field. His chances of making the field got better Sunday when Forty One Carats, second in the Flamingo, was knocked out of the race because of a lung infection. . . . Blue Grass winner Menifee worked five furlongs in company in 1:00. . . . Patience Game, winner of Saturday’s Derby Trial, will probably run in the Preakness on May 8. . . . Desert Hero, whose owner, Prince Ahmed Salman, also races Patience Game, worked six furlongs Saturday in 1:14.

Derby Facts

The 125th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday:

TV: Ch. 7

Post time: 2:30 p.m. PDT. (Television coverage begins at 1:30 p.m.)