Published: May 02, 2008 10:15 pm            

Derby favorite has Zionsville ties

Colonel John will enter the gate as a favorite in today’s 134th running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky. The three-year-old thoroughbred has a great chance of winning the world’s biggest horse race, and his lineage began right here in Boone County.

His great-grandmother (third dam), Fia, resides at Fox Run Farms in Zionsville. Fia foaled Colonel John’s second dam, Grande Dame, who foaled Sweet Damsel. Colonel John was foaled by Sweet Damsel in 2005 in Kentucky.

Although Colonel John was born and bred in the Bluegrass State (at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky.), all three horses on his mother’s side were bred by Fox Run, owned by Russell (Jock) Fortune III of Indianapolis. Fortune explained the importance of a horse’s breeding in its potential to become a successful race horse.

"Breeding means a lot in horse racing, and a lot of people look at how a horse is bred when they decide whether or not they want to own a particular horse," Fortune said. "Breeding has everything to do with it, especially when a horse is untried as a race horse. That’s about the only thing you can look at."

He said that it all began with Fia’s success.

"Fia was a pretty good horse herself years ago," Fortune said. "She won several stakes at places like Belmont and Saratoga. Grand Dame was a stakes winning mare as well in Chicago."

Fia, Grande Dame, and Sweet Damsel were all bred by Fortune’s father, Russell Fortune Jr., and he has carried it on.

"I guess you might say I’m responsible for Sweet Damsel and Grande Dame," Fortune said. The horses we bred are responsible for (Colonel John) being what he is."

He admits that none of the three mares can compare to Colonel John and the abilities he possesses. In his six races Colonel John has finished first four times, and has finished second twice, amassing $720,000 in graded earnings. In 2008, Colonel John took first place in April’s Santa Anita Derby, as well as in the Sham Stakes in March.

His 4-1 odds at today’s Kentucky Derby places him behind only Big Brown, who is the 3-1 favorite.

        

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