EP. 105 - The Kentucky Derby with Alden Stehly
As most people know, co-host Katie Schrock is in love with all things racehorses so having the opportunity to have Alden Stehly, a Thoroughbred racehorse pinhooker from central Oregon, you knew both her and Rachel were all over it! So we brought her on the podcast to talk all things Kentucky Derby and racehorses right before the running of the 148th Kentucky Derby.
Talk Derby to me….
Alden and her husband, Damian, aren’t just ranchers in central Oregon with an emphasis on diversification, but, as a part of that diversity, they also raise an unlikely animal: Thoroughbred racehorses. Founding A Lazy D ranch as a realization that they couldn’t afford cattle, they first got a female Kelpie and then got Barbados sheep to train her on.
The first request was for lambs for easier, so they raised a couple up, but since the Barbados were bred to be a bit more wild, they switched to Dorpers; a meat & hair composite breed. “We absolutely loved it! And then a friend was getting out of her show goats,” says Alden. That naturally led to raising show goats for the local, rural community - a task that can be hard to break into. These wether projects for 4-H and FFA kids in the area was a great one to continue it into the farming, cattle, and racehorses that they had always had when Alden was growing up.
Getting Involved in the Racing Industry
Originally, Alden’s great-grandfather was the owner of a number of stockyards in southern California and was headhunted to come to Keeneland to help sell some racehorses. He kicked butt at it and actually revoluntionized the way that racehorses were sold. They used to be sold more like an art auction; slow and methodical. Known for his cattle rattle with great dictation, he was able to bring energy into the racehorse auctions and pioneered the new era of the industry.
It was natural for him to join the racing industry as he bought into different broodmares. Her grandparents moved to southern Oregon, but they would foal them out in California to make sure that they were California-bred for the incentives. Both Alden’s Dad and Uncle followed in their dad’s footprints to become auctioneers selling in Keeneland.
“Now, I’m the third-generation and everyone asks if I want to be an auctioneer,” says Alden with a laugh. “I’ve never wanted to do it but I could listen to an auction all day.”
“A good auctioneer can make you spend a lot of money. It’s kind of the point.”
Today’s Thoroughbred Racehorse World
“It’s really changing and evolving, I think for the better,” says Alden about today’s racehorse world. There’s more syndications involved, which helps players be a part of the game because bills can be crippling. There’s also a resurgence of getting young people back into the industry by making it approachable and fun. “Some of these farms have major TikToks - I can’t even imagine!”
The one’s on the cutting edge are doing just about everything to keep the industry trending up because it was trending down for so long since it was the quintessential, white old men industry. Evolving and adapting, getting young people involved through young racing programs through the Universities and other opportunities to work for trainers, in sales barns, on or for stud farms, and more. It’s a different world than what we experience out here on the west coast.
The Run for the Roses
The 148th Kentucky Derby had a $3 million dollar purse guarantee in 2022. The industry is just as glamorous to those in the horse industry as those that aren’t. Alden has worked for NBC sports on the backside as a “spotter.” There she is paired with a cameraman to make sure they get the ambiance feel and these assignments are to the various trainers that the cameraman wouldn’t know about.
That role gave her great insight into the industry. From Todd Pletcher, Brad Cox, Bob Baffert to D. Wayne Lucas, you get to see the trainers that are professionals. “IF you want to see old women fangirl - Bob Baffert!”
For the new trainers, it can be a very stressful time. Sometimes these horses are in just their third start of their career so there can be a lot of stress. Some trainers just completely hide from the paparazzi - others are just more accustomed to it. If you’re there the day-in, day-out, it’s still a business-as-usual for those trainers trying to keep their cool.
Horses qualify for the Kentucky Derby where the Top 20 get in with alternates. Think about the National Finals Rodeo and how the top 15 go and then if they scratch, the next one comes in.
Controversy in Racing
Drug policies in racing is different state-to-state and in 2021, Medina Spirit was disqualified for .002 pictograms (roughly) for a drug that was in a topical treatment for rain rot. “We need a national governing body and we need a national drug board to oversee this,” explains Alden. “Now there is all of this extra controversy around Bob Baffert … and he’s been made the ‘fall guy,’ because he’s practically unbeatable … due to the quality of the horses in their barn.”
“You can juice a horse but it’s not going to make them a Grade 1 winner or a Triple Crown winner,” says Alden. “A lot of those two to three million dollar yearlings are going to Bob Baffert’s training barn to make back that money.”
The drug situation in racing is not as bad as people like to make it. A lot of trainers in New York and Kentucky that are adamant to not run on Lasix or on any drugs, even like Butte which is legal in Oregon. There is a lot of trainers that are going to run their horses “naturally” and they get horses that run really well. There’s no difference except when you run a horse without Lasix, they need to be better conditioned. Places like Europe or Japan, they hack their horses out is beneficial for that conditioning, but in the U.S. they are just on the track working and breezing, or walking through the barns. Nevertheless, it’s not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be.
2022 Kentucky Derby Picks
“Your superfecta better be seven horses this year,” says Alden. “I love a race like that where it’s super competitive.”
Some of those standouts include the foreign horses that Alden wants to see perform well to bring buyers to the U.S..
Derby stats have been very popular since they started in the 1930’s due to bettors that only bet off the numbers. With that being said, 64% of the winners have started from the 14th post or wider.
“Because it’s a 20 horse field, they had an auxiliary starting gate, so there was a big gap. That meant those outside horses had a better trip on the 15 to 20 horses,” says Alden. “One through 14 were vying for the rail, while 15 to 20 were just rounding the field.”
This is the first year that we have one full gate for 20 horses with a new starting gate to try and minimize that. The 15 horse would oftentimes come over and slam into the 14 horse in an attempt to get to the rail. The Kentucky Derby is all about position because navigating around and through 20 horses is unreal. The outside posts are good but favor an early on speed horse that can get the position. Post 15 has been deemed the luckiest with Orb (2013), American Pharaoh (2015) and Authentic winning from that position in the past few decade.