There has always been something electrifying about the Kentucky Derby, which trumpets its mile-and-a-quarter race as, “The most exciting two minutes in sports.”
You could also say that Derby Day is the “Longest Day in Sports,” in that activity at Churchill Downs begins before dawn, admission gates open at 9 a.m., and the preeminent event is the 12th of 14 races for the day.
As I watched the “run for the roses” last Saturday, I was not aware there was a University of Georgia connection in the winner’s circle — having latently learned this nugget of Bulldog lore from old friends Earl Leonard and Keith Mason.
Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, closed hard to win from the outside, which I enjoyed, but I didn’t know anything about the stable that owns him. I had no idea that the COO of Godolphin USA once scrimmaged in 1987 as a walk-on with Dooley’s Dawgs. Dan Pride enjoyed making the travel roster for the 1987 Liberty Bowl season, but do not ask him about a spring practice tackling drill when he lined up against Hiawatha Berry (6-1, 285) who left him wondering if he had crossed paths with a locomotive.
All parts of the learning experience, he says. Life after football took him on an odyssey that is a treatise on following your dream and never letting go. He started out coaching and teaching history at a private school in Columbia, S.C. But wherever he found employment, he had that burning motivation to find a place in the thoroughbred racing industry. That itch would never go away.
Dan’s wife, Beth, a native of Rome, was supportive, so they struck out for Lexington, the Bluegrass haven in Kentucky, where he would start at ground zero. He made his entry into the business by answering an ad in the Lexington Herald-Leader. A farm was looking to hire a groom.
Dan is now chief operating officer of Godolphin, USA, owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, who owns 5,000 thoroughbreds globally with 550 of them in the United States. The Godolphin farm, near Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, comprises 6,000 acres requiring 125 employees who manage 550 horses — a big jump from the campus where Dan learned about serious competition.
Way back when scrimmaging with the Bulldogs, Dan purchased a quarter horse but did not have any place to stable his steed. He knew the car dealer, Heyward Allen, had a farm in Madison County and went calling. He knocked on Heyward’s door and made a deal with him. If he would allow Dan to keep his horse at his barn, Dan would manage chores and odd jobs at the farm.
As Dan became established in thoroughbred circles, he traveled the world from Dubai to Ireland to the United Kingdom to Australia to Japan to Blue Ridge in the North Georgia Mountains.
That last address is a getaway place to recharge for him and Beth, whose reputation as an author is gaining traction. She has written a novel, Back to Blue Holly, based on life in the mountain community and some of the characters that abound.
A thoroughbred executive with an abiding grasp of the graphic meaning of Sovereignty’s victory last weekend, Dan does not take this enviable plum of success for granted. None of the three-year-old horses entered in the Derby had ever run a mile-and-a-quarter race before. To capture the garland of roses that goes to the Derby winner requires winning against staggering odds, but all along, Dan and the Godolphin team saw promise in Sovereignty, primarily in his finishing power.
Dan watched the Derby without trepidation. As the field made the final turn headed for the homestretch, Dan saw Sovereignty in excellent position to make a championship run. “When he was 3/8s from the finish line, I saw him make his move which got us all excited. This was where he was trained to do his best. He saw daylight at the last 1/16 of a mile, and we knew we had the advantage.”
The rest, we all know, is history. What a memorable week for Dan and his associates.
The first celebration for him and his team came in the 11th race on Friday of Derby weekend when their filly, Good Cheer, won the Kentucky Oaks. One stable winning both races had not taken place since 1952 in the heyday of Calumet Farms. It was double the pleasure for Dan and the Godolphin team, sublime and unforgettable moments. Just like Georgia winning back-to-back national championships in football.
