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California based Colonel John would be trainer Eoin Harty's first Kentucky Derby starter. The former Bob Baffert assistant saddled Colonel John to a win in the Real Quiet Stakes at Hollywood last November, and then followed that up with a second as the favorite in the CashCall Futurity (gr. I) a month later at the same track. Given a bit of a break by Harty, the son of Tiznow returned in the March 1 Sham Stakes (gr. III), besting the previously undefeated El Gato Malo. In his final race before the Kentucky Derby, he turned in a powerhouse race to take the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I). This will be trainer Eoin Harty's first starter in the Kentucky Derby, while owner WinStar farm finished second in 2006 with Bluegrass Cat and 8th last year with Any Given Saturday.

Racing History

Date	Race Name	Distance	Finish	Earnings
04/05/08	Santa Anita Derby(gr. I)	9f	1	$450,000
03/01/08	Sham Stakes (gr. III)	9f	1	$120,000
12/22/07	CashCall Futurity (gr. I)	8.5f	2	$150,000
11/18/07	Real Quiet Stakes	8.5f	1	$65,900
10/07/07	MSW	7f	1	$25,800
08/19/07	MSW	6f	2	$13,600
Record: 6 Starts, 4-2-0 | Total Earnings: $925,300
Race Records provided by equineline.com

By Steve Haskin

There are some horses that you can scrutinize over and over and not be able to find any flaws in them. Colonel John looks to be that kind of horse. As his trainer Eoin Harty said, “He is, as far as I’m concerned, the complete package. He’s got the mind, he’s got the pedigree, and I believe he’s got the ability. Nobody’s touched on his mental outlook yet, but it’s surprising how mature he is mentally. I couldn’t ask for any more.”

That says it all. You couldn’t ask for any more from a young horse. Colonel John has the right running style—he rates kindly and can sit wherever the rider wants him. And he demonstrated the quick, powerful acceleration you like to see in a Kentucky Derby horse when winning the 1 1⁄16-mile Real Quiet Stakes coming off a seven-furlong maiden score.

He was sent off as the 2-1 favorite in the CashCall Futurity (gr. I), but did not have the smoothest of trips, stuck down on the inside. When he finally was able to split horses in the stretch, he closed strongly, but the victorious Into Mischief had gotten too big of a jump on him, beating him by 11⁄4 lengths.

Since then, Colonel John has been a gem in the morning, doing whatever Harty’s asked of him. After he turned in two bullet works—six furlong in 1:104⁄5 and five furlongs in :58 3⁄5—Harty felt it was time to slow him down. He put his “slow work” rider up, and the colt went six furlongs in 1:17, the slowest work on the tab. “He’s a big, leggy, light-framed colt, and putting another three-quarters in 1:10 and change in him wasn’t going to do him or anybody any good,” Harty said.

So, now it’s on to the nine-furlong Sham Stakes (gr. III) at Santa Anita. If Harty’s “complete package” is still complete afterward, look out on May 3.

By Avalyn Hunter

Thus far, Tiznow has been an inconsistent sire, with just nine stakes winners from his first three crops (a total of 293 named foals). But when everything comes together, the Taylor Made/WinStar Farm stallion can get a horse with considerable talent. Colonel John appears to be such a horse.

One question for the Colonel may be just how fast he can move forward off a pedigree that suggests late maturity. Tiznow himself did not even make his first start until late April of his 3-year-old season, and of his top stakes horses last year, both Tough Tiz's Sis and Bear Now were better in the second half of their 3-year-old seasons than they were early on.

Turkoman, the broodmare sire of Colonel John, was also a late-maturing type. A winner of the Affirmed Handicap (gr. III) at 3, at 4 the son of Alydar won the Widener Handicap (gr. I) and the Marlboro Cup Handicap (gr. I).

As a sire, Turkoman has shown a bent for siring long-winded turf runners, including grade I winners Turk Passer and Man From Wicklow. To date, his daughters have produced 44 stakes winners (6%) from 748 named foals of racing age. The best of those stakes winners, of course, has been 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given, but Turkoman is also the broodmare sire of 2007 King's Bishop Stakes (gr. I) winner Hard Spun.

Sweet Damsel, the dam of Colonel John, was not particularly classy but was fairly durable, winning five of her 33 starts. Her dam, the Zen mare Grande Dame, won a restricted stakes for Illinois-breds and was produced from grade I-placed Fia, a daughter of the staying Northern Dancer horse One for All. Both Colonel John's dam and granddam showed ability over grass, so even if the colt proves unable to translate his best form from synthetics to dirt, he may well have a bright future ahead on turf.

By Jason Shandler

Over the past decade, Eoin Harty has developed some of the best juveniles and 3-year-olds in the world. Yet, for a couple of different reasons, the Irish-born trainer has never had a horse of his own on the Triple Crown trail.

That is, until now.

Harty, training for WinStar Farm, is the man behind talented Tiznow colt, Colonel John, who is 2-2-0 from four lifetime starts, and is on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) radar of many.

Harty, who came to America at the age of 17, has played a vital role in the development of many of the sport’s top horses for some time now. In 1997 and 1998, working as an assistant trainer for Bob Baffert, Harty helped craft the Kentucky Derby and Preakness
(gr. I) winning campaigns of champions Silver Charm and Real Quiet, though in the eyes of the national media he was a virtual unknown.

After going to work for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing in 2000, Harty assumed training duties for Street Cry, guiding him to a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I). But Street Cry, now a leading sire, was handed over to Saeed bin Suroor in the United Arab Emirates, where he eventually captured the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).

In 2000-01, Harty also helped develop a couple of other Godolphin colts that were eventually transferred to Suroor—Essence of Dubai, who went on to become a graded/group stakes winner in North America and Dubai and a Kentucky Derby/Belmont (gr. I) starter, and E Dubai, a two-time graded stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) starter.

Although Harty did campaign Tempera—the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner and 2-year-old champion filly—on his own, Colonel John is the first colt to give him a solo trek along the Triple Crown trail.

“It would be great to be on the trail. This is my first real chance at going to the Kentucky Derby,” said Harty, who is based in California. “It’s still so early, though. There is a long way to go.

“If we do get there, I do have that experience from Real Quiet and Silver Charm that would help. I think I would have a good idea of what to expect with the media blitz and the level of excitement. You have to stay focused and can’t be influenced by all the outside stuff. But the main thing is, if your horse is good enough and you prepare the right way, he’ll show up at the Derby.”

It remains to be seen if Colonel John will be good enough to show up the first weekend in May, but you can bet Harty will be ready if it is meant to be. Like a good racehorse, it is in his bloodlines.

Harty is a fourth-generation horseman, his great-grandfather beginning the family legacy in the 1880s as a jockey and trainer in Ireland. Harty’s grandfather, Cyril, was a successful trainer in the 1940s, saddling, among others, Irish Grand National winner Knight’s Crest. Finally, Harty’s father, Eddie, was an accomplished equestrian
who competed in the 1960 Olympics and later won the Grand National as a steeplechase jockey.

“I’ve grown up my whole life around friends and family who were horsemen, and spent a lot of time in England,” Harty said. “It’s always been a part of my life. I’ve really never been exposed to anything else.

“I’ve been fortunate to have some very good influences throughout my career. John Russell (who he was an assistant for upon landing in California in the 1980s) was an excellent horseman, and Baffert pretty much speaks for himself."

By Claire Novak

Although he has had 13 Kentucky Derby mounts, the winning prize has eluded 38-year-old Corey Nakatani. Not so honors in other racing events, from riding titles at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and Oak Tree, to seven Breeders' Cup victories. Nakatani, who began riding in 1988 by winning his first race at Caliente, is the regular rider for the Doug O'Neill-trained Lava Man and has won the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) twice - in 1991 and 1996. In this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), he rides Colonel John for trainer Eoin Harty.

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 113

Career wins: 3,273

Born: Oct. 21, 1970, Covina, Calif.

Residence: Glendora, Calif.

Family: wife Lisa, Brittany, Matthew, Austin, stepdaughter Taylor

Favorite food: "Japanese."

Favorite sport: “I like all sports, I golf and used to be a wrestler.”

I can't live without: “My wife.”

Most hated chore: “Picking up after my dog, Luke.”

The fastest I’ve ever driven was: “173 miles an hour in a Porsche. My uncle had a heart attack, and I drove to Vegas where he was in the hospital. He went to ER but ended up living. It was real important for me to be there for him. On the way, there was a Corvette next to me going about 160, but he couldn’t keep up when I hit the gas. When we slowed down to do 100 miles an hour, it felt like we were walking. It was weird.”

If I could trade careers with another professional athlete, I would: “Tiger Woods.”

Another rider I admire is: “Garrett Gomez and his agent, Ron Anderson. They’re picking all the right horses to ride and he’s making the most of it.”

One thing I wish people knew about jockeys: “I would like to stress how difficult it is for a guy that’s an athlete and supposed to have all wits about him, to maintain weight. They must understand, the scale of weights is so out of line. You would imagine that the athlete himself on the back of a horse should be able to be hydrated and not taking diuretics. But it’s not easy to try to maintain that weight 102, 112 pounds and stay healthy and strong. The sport needs to address it.”

The best part about winning the Derby this year would be: “Winning for my dad, Roy Nakatani, who passed away. If wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be in this sport.”