So, Who Would You Ride in the Derby: Eddie Delahoussaye

[Wandering Eyes]

The TDN has polled some of the top riders in the history of the sport and asked them to answer this simple question: If given a choice of any of the 20 starters in the GI Kentucky Derby, who would you choose to ride? We continue the series with Hall of Famer Eddie Delahoussaye, who won the Derby in 1982 with Gato Del Sol and the following year with Sunny’s Halo.

“It’s so wide open, but if I had to pick one, I guess I would pick Game Winner, because he’s so consistent. He keeps just getting beat, just getting beat, and you can’t throw him out. It’s like riding a bicycle. You have to keep at it. He keeps trying, keeps trying. He’s a horse who will like the added distance and he never quits. He’s been tested where a lot of these horses, like Mandella’s horse, Omaha Beach, he was tested the other day, but he had run two easy races before that. He’s a good horse, too, though. Like I said, it’s wide open. But Game Winner is just a consistent horse, and if he runs on that day–and we know it’s which horse runs that day–then he’s the horse to beat. He’s a horse you have to encourage along. That’s what I’ve heard about him. You can’t just sit chill. I think it’s a good thing, because he has such stamina. You ask him to go and he keeps going. A lot of these horses don’t want to go a mile and a quarter; that’s the way our breed has changed.

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