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The homebred Smooth Air has been a pleasant surprise for his connections. In his debut last July at Calder he beat a very nice horse in Hey Byrn, then came back to place in a couple of Florida bred stakes at the same track. An impressive allowance win set him up for his first start in graded company. He upset the field in the Hutcheson (gr. II) with a sustained stretch drive over a sloppy track. In his only two-turn start to date, he was third behind Fierce Wind and Big Truck in the Sam Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. The latter would go on to win the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III). Smooth Air may have been five lengths behind Big Brown at the finish of the Florida Derby (gr. I), but he was still 7 1/2 clear of the rest of the field. After arriving at Churchill, he had a brief setback, missing a couple days of training due to a slight fever. He recovered pretty quickly, and Stutts says all is well for his first Derby starter.

Racing History

By Steve Haskin

In a year as baffling as 2008, with almost every horse having major question marks surrounding it, you have to admire Smooth Air, one horse who has laid his cards on the table every hand. Unlike the large number of top 3-year-olds who have thrown in inexplicable clunkers this year, Smooth Air has continued to move forward, outrunning his pedigree while earning solid speed figures.

Smooth Air's success can be attributed to his trainer, 70-year-old Bennie Stutts, and his old-school method of training that has put a tremendous foundation in the colt and allowed him to improve as the distances increased.

By giving Smooth Air, who is small in stature, but big in heart and toughness, a series of one-mile and seven-furlong works over the deepish Calder track all winter and spring, the colt was able to finish a strong second in the Florida Derby (gr. I) behind Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) favorite Big Brown, while finishing 71/2 lengths ahead of the third-placed horse. That race moved Smooth Air up several notches in the Derby pecking order and had people taking notice of him. He was already an established stakes horse, winning the Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II) and placing in three other added-money events, but was considered by most to be a sprinter/miler type. However, Stutts was determined to put stamina into him, and Smooth Air responded to his rigorous training regimen by getting faster and tougher with each race.

The colt's mile drill in 1:41, and seven-eighths in 1:254/5 following the Florida Derby, showed that he had bounced out of that race in great shape and was right on target for the first Saturday in May. A five-furlong breeze over the Churchill Downs surface and Smooth Air should be primed for another big effort. And with the bottom Stutts has put into him, not even a mile and a quarter should deter him. Whether he wins or not, the others will know they're in a fight.

By Avalyn Hunter

Among this year's crop of Triple Crown hopefuls, Smooth Air has not had the smoothest of sailing. Although winner of the Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 5, he got a less than ideal trip when running third in the Sam F. Davis Stakes and then ran into a buzz saw named Big Brown in the Florida Derby (gr. I). Still, his second in the Florida Derby was a good effort and suggested that he is more than a clone of his sire.

Not that a clone of Smooth Jazz would be a bad thing, of course. A son of Storm Boot (by Storm Cat), Smooth Jazz proved a good sprinter during his two seasons of racing, winning the 2002 Best Turn Stakes and the 2003 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. II). He stood his first season at stud at Cloverleaf Farms II near Reddick, Fla., in 2004 and was moved to Buckridge Farm in New York for 2008 after Cloverleaf shifted its operations to Kentucky.

Smooth Air is out of Air France, whose sire, 1995 Jerome Handicap (gr. II) winner French Deputy (by Deputy Minister), is also the broodmare sire of this year's Gotham Stakes (gr. III) winner, Visionaire. Air France is out of the Known Fact mare Twin Propeller, winner of two sprint stakes and a half-sister to four other stakes winners, including 1994 Prioress Stakes (gr. II) winner Penny's Reshoot. Twin Propeller, in turn, was produced from the Mr. Leader mare Ahpo Hel, a half-sister to three stakes winners, including 1989 Bold Ruler Stakes (gr. II) winner Pok Ta Pok.

The family of Smooth Air has had an excellent record since the importation of his 10th dam, Royal Rose, dam of the good sire Pennant; however, the branch to which Smooth Air belongs has generally produced its best results running at shorter distances. Still, Smooth Air has already turned in a respectable performance at nine furlongs, and while he does not appear bred to stay 10, stranger things have happened before on the road to the Triple Crown.

By Claire Novak

When Brian Burns decided to join the racing industry in 1990, he set out to find a good bloodstock agent. Burns' neighbor, Mike Minnini, said he knew the perfect guy for the job, but there was a problem-Chuck Calvin had been out of the industry for 10 years, and Minnini didn't know where to find him.

So Burns and Minnini took out a full page ad in the Daily Racing Form. "Chuck Call Mike" worked like a charm, and before long, Burns was on the phone with his prospective agent.

"What do you want in this game?" Calvin asked.

"I want to win the Kentucky Derby (gr. I)," Burns said.

"How much do you want to spend?" asked Calvin.

"$20,000," Burns replied.

"Heck, the DRF ad cost more than I'm gonna make with you!" Calvin exclaimed.

Eighteen years later, the chairman and CEO of the Chicago-based Pro Financial Services, a high-limit disability insurance firm that insures major sports teams and entertainers, finally has a chance at winning the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). He's spent a little more than $20,000, and he's purchased more than a few horses along the way-in fact, while pursuing his Derby dream, Burns has developed a solid broodmare band and a barn full of runners campaigning under the silks of his Mount Joy Stables.

Burns' interest in racing developed when he was a child. He spent mornings on the backside of Belmont Park and was taught to respect and admire Thoroughbreds by his father, Jimmy Burns, as they watched the horses go through their training routines.

"My father came from Ireland and always had an affinity for the horse," Burns said. "He would tell me how great an athlete the Thoroughbred is; it gives you everything it's got and more. We always said we were going to get a horse together, but he died in 1988, and I felt terrible because we never did."

About two years later, Burns decided to buy a horse and race it in his father's memory. Enlisting Calvin's help, he named the stable after his father's birthplace, created silks that mirrored the Irish flag, and purchased his first horse, an Encino colt he dubbed The Name's Jimmy, after Jimmy Burns' humble insistence everyone call him by his first name. The Name's Jimmy turned out to be a grass specialist, and although he didn't win the Kentucky Derby, he scored his biggest victory in the American Derby (gr. IIT) in 1992. Since then, close to 200 runners have landed in the winner's circle for Mount Joy, while several yearlings have gone through the sales ring under the stable name.

"We've been chasing the Derby for a long time, and we finally got a horse to take us there, and that's Smooth Air," Burns said. Smooth Air is a homebred out of the French Deputy mare Air France, who was also bred by Burns out of the Known Fact mare Twin Propeller.

"I bought 'Twin' when Chuck wasn't with me," Burns recalled. "He looked at the sales sheets and said, 'You bought a filly without me? What were you thinking?' So we went down to the barn to see her and Chuck looked at her and he looked at me and he looked at her again and said, 'Were you blind when you bought this? This is the crookedest racehorse I've ever seen!' But she was a phenomenal filly."

As is often the case with Mount Joy fillies, Twin Propeller, a two-time stakes winner, was retired to produce Air France, who was retired to Burns' broodmare band. Mount Joy is a family operation-from the involvement of Burns' wife, Jan, to management from his daughter, Brittany, and assistance from son, Dan, and younger daughter, Jamie. Burns maintains that one of his favorite parts of being on the Derby trail is watching his horse bring pleasure to the people who work with him, such as trainer Bennie Stutts Jr. and longtime racetracker Salty Roberts, who galloped horses for Stutts' father in the late 1940s and remained friends with the family after he went on to found the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America.

"People like Benny and Salty and Chuck, to see their faces when they watch Smooth Air is amazing; it's like a dream come true," Burns said. "These horsemen came into this game to one day get to the Derby and now we're here. We give God all the credit for where we're at now, on the way to becoming nervous wrecks. We never knew the definition of 'Derby Fever,' but we sure do today."

By Claire Novak

Mount Joy Stables' Smooth Air will be Manoel Cruz's first Derby mount—and should he win, the race would be his first grade I victory. Thus far, his most significant win has come in the 2006 running of the $200,000 Shirley Jones Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. II) aboard Splendid Blended.

Cruz came to the U.S. just eight years ago, and since then has become a popular fixture on the Florida riding circuit. An accomplished horseman, he got his start riding jumpers in Brazil before graduating at age 16 from his country's jockey school. He had numerous riding titles and more than 1,200 wins at Hipodromo Cidade Jardim in San Paulo, Brazil, before launching his North American riding career. He was leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs in 2002 and leading rider at Calder in 2006.

Career wins: 1,761

Born: May 20, 1970, Ninas Gerais, Brazil

Residence: Miami, Fla.

Family: wife Sirlene; sons Victor Manoel and Brian

Favorite food: "I have to control my diet, so I eat salad, chicken fillets, and fish fillets. Not much pork or red steak, I'm taking care of my body. Grilled chicken is light and good."

Favorite sport: "I like fishing, to relax, or driving race cars, for the adrenaline. I also like to sing in Portuguese, not professionally, just if somebody asks. I play soccer on the beach, and enjoy being close to the water, so when I'm not riding horses, I'm probably doing some of this stuff."

Most hated chore: "I'm very, very organized. I guess my least favorite thing would be cleaning the garage, because you always drop everything in there, and I don't like things to be out of order."

I can't live without: "My laptop. I can send e-mail, see movies, listen to music, and talk to people all by using it."

The fastest I’ve ever driven was: "Oh, my goodness. Well, right now I'm smarter, but before when I'm about 20 or 21, I go 200 kilometers in Brazil, which would be about 140 miles per hour. I'm young, the car is new, the highway, nobody there, I start thinking, 'If I was to go fast, nobody would catch me...' It was a nice car. Now I still drive fast, but only race cars on the racetrack."

If I could trade careers with another professional athlete, I would: "Trade with a professional pilot, actually. I think I'd really like to learn about how to fly an airplane."

Another rider I admire is: "Ah, here is how you answer this question. 'I really don’t have one, because there are a lot of good riders, I could tell you 10 names like Prado, Velazquez, Gomez, blah-blah-blah, there’s a lot of good jockeys. It’s hard to pick one; I don’t have one favorite. I don’t have one, maybe 20.' That's how you answer that question without making anybody mad.”

One thing I wish people knew about jockeys: “We give up a lot to maintain our careers."

The best part about winning the Derby this year would be: "Winning for my family. I have two sons, and I can't tell you I'm a good daddy, but I try. My kids give up a lot for me, and my own daddy, who has passed away, had a lot of admiration for myself. So both of them are very, very important."