Leparoux will ride General Quarters

LOUISVILLE, Ky. " The phone call was supposed to be just a quick congratulations to the man behind one of the Kentucky Derby's feel-good stories.

Still, Steve Bass couldn't help but sneak in a little shop talk while chatting with Tom McCarthy after the former high school science teacher's colt General Quarters won the Blue Grass Stakes on April 11.

Bass, the agent for jockey Julien Leparoux, wasn't sure what his former teacher's plans were for the Derby. Eibar Coa, who piloted General Quarters to the winner's circle in the Blue Grass, also had the option of riding Illinois Derby winner Musket Man in the Run for the Roses.

"I knew (Coa) couldn't ride two horses in the Derby," Bass said. "They weren't committing right away and I told Tom 'If you want us, we're available."'

Rather than wait for Coa to make a decision, McCarthy helped make it for him, giving Leparoux the mount in the Derby. Leparoux is 0-for-2 in the Derby so far, his best finish fifth in 2007 aboard Sedgefield. Coa is also winless in two Derby appearances.

It wasn't personal, just another stop in the seemingly endless game of musical chairs between owners, trainers and jockeys.

"That's part of the business," McCarthy said. "Eibar apparently made a commitment to Musket Man. I thought maybe he'd change his mind. He didn't so I had to move on."

Leparoux won't swing a leg over General Quarters for the first time until he's in the paddock moments before the Derby. Riding an unfamiliar horse every day is typical for lot of jockeys. The Derby is no different.

Several jockeys, including Leparoux, Calvin Borel, Ramon Dominguez and Robby Albarado, will be making their first starts on their respective Derby horses.

Besides, Leparoux jokes he saw all he needed when General Quarters motored by Leparoux and Terrain in the Blue Grass.

"I never really was next to him," Leparoux said. "He looked pretty good going by me."

While Leparoux needed a little bit of politicking and a dash of luck to get his third Derby start, Garrett Gomez found himself in a more enviable if somewhat awkward position earlier this month.

The two-time Eclipse Award winner had the choice of riding either Pioneerof the Nile for Bob Baffert or Dunkirk for Todd Pletcher in the Derby. The pick was so highly anticipated that his agent Ron Anderson held an impromptu news conference at Keeneland to announce it.

Gomez opted for Pioneerof the Nile even though the horse has never raced on dirt. Anderson described it as a "ridiculously tough call," one that could cost Gomez his first Derby win if the Santa Anita Derby winner doesn't like getting dirt in his face.

It's part of the gamble all riders face at some point.

"The future is now, which horse is doing it and this horse is doing it," Baffert said. "It's pretty hard to take off a horse that has won four graded stakes races, especially in Southern California. The other horse is a nice horse. I guess we'll know next Saturday if he made the right choice."

Either way, Gomez will almost certainly ride for Pletcher again. Jockeys who find their way to the winner's circle as often as Gomez usually have little trouble finding work.

It's not always that way.

Sometimes owners and trainers can freeze out a rider if he chooses to change mounts. It happened to Hall of Famer Gary Stevens during his career, though never when a Derby horse was involved.

"The Derby is different and I think all the connections realize that it's different," he said. "You can only be loyal to a certain point. When it comes Derby time you pick the best horse in your mind and try to wait to make that decision."

Sometimes, the wait can prove too long. Two-time Derby winner Nick Zito wouldn't hesitate to dump a rider if he thought the jockey was waffling.

"I don't want anybody that don't want to ride my horse," the trainer said. "Let's say you make somebody stick to the call, you're out of your mind. How could he go out there with good karma? He didn't want to ride your horse."

If Zito has a problem with a rider, he usually won't take it out on the jockey, instead focusing on the agent.

"People get upset, but that's why you have an agent, so you have somebody to blame," Stevens said with a laugh.

Acting as a buffer is old hat for Jerry Hissam.

The longtime agent for Borel doesn't leave the calls up to his rider, even if it costs them both money in the short-term. Borel, who won the Derby aboard Street Sense two years ago, will ride Mine That Bird on Saturday.

"If you start trying to handicap, you might as well go over to the grandstand and be a bettor," Hissam said.

While Stevens allows in a perfect world a jockey would hook up with a trainer early on in a colt's career and team up through the Triple Crown season, he never felt comfortable making a promise in January he wasn't sure he could keep in May.

"You might think you're on the fastest horse in January, but there's that chance that something can happen leading up to it," he said. "In the end, everybody wants to get on the best horse no matter what."

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