A Look at the W.Va. Derby Since 1998
50th running takes place Saturday at Mountaineer
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CHESTER -- The West Virginia Derby, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has had its share of stops and starts, as well as venue changes, over the course of a history that spans 1923-2018.
The fixture for 3-year-olds was first run in 1923 at Tri-State Park near Huntington, just east of the capital of Charleston. The race was held there again in 1924 and 1926. It returned to the calendar decades later at Wheeling Downs in 1958, and was run there in 1959 and 1961.
The race moved to Waterford Park (now Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort) in 1963 and was held every year through 1981. After another gap, the race returned in 1988 for three years through 1990.
The advent of casino-style gambling at Mountaineer in the early 1990s eventually led management to bring the Derby back to calendar in 1998, and it has been run each year since that time for a total of 21 years.
When the Derby reappeared in 1998, the purse was a then-record $200,000 and it attracted a full field of 12. The winner was Da Devil, a 13-1 Kentucky shipper who paid $28.20 to win in defeating heavily favored Ohio-bred One Bold Stroke by a neck.
Since that time only two other horses have paid more to win in the Derby: Western Pride, who went off at 21-1 and returned $45.60 win in 2001, and Soul Warrior, who paid $48 to win as a 23-1 shot in 2009. Over the past 21 editions of the race, the favorite has won nine times, which is good for a 42.8 percent strike rate.
The average win price since 1998 is just shy of $12, or 5-1.
The top three horses by margin of victory since 1998 were Stellar Brush (9 lengths in 1999), Departing (8 3/4 lengths in 2013) and Mr Freeze (8 lengths in 2018).
The narrowest margin of victory during the period was a nose--when Tapiture defeated Candy Boy in 2014 and when Zanjero fought off Bwana Bull in 2007.
The record Derby win-place-show pool of $694,180--despite a field of only six, the smallest field over the 21-year period--came in 2009. Much of the pari-mutuel handle came through show bets on pair of 4-5 shots, favorite Big Drama and Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who finished second and third, respectively, behind Soul Warrior.
The Derby was run under the lights from 1998 to 2002, and in 2001 it produced a then-track record of 1:47.20 for 1 1/8 miles by Western Pride. The year it switched to daytime, at least in the modern era, Soto won in a sizzling 1:46.29, a record that still stands at Mountaineer.
The record for West Virginia Derby wins by a trainer is held by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who won with Real Dandy in 2005, Zanjero in 2007, Soul Warrior in 2009, Macho Macho in 2012 and Tapiture in 2014. In recent years, Asmussen finished fourth last year with Lionite and third with Lookin At Lee in 2017.
The holder of the record for most wins by a jockey won all of them in the 1960s. Floyd Francis Green won the Derby in consecutive years: Etimota (1963), Peter Le Grand (1964), Pantuity (1965) and Kerensa (1966). Etimota, a filly, recorded the largest margin of victory in Derby history at 12 lengths. Since 1998, the leading jockey is Rafael Bejarano with three wins (Sir Shackleton in 2004, Prayer for Relief in 2011 and Cupid in 2016).
The Derby was run on the second Saturday in August from 1998 to 2005, and has been held the first Saturday of August since 2006. The purse increased quickly from 1998: $250,000 in 1999, $300,000 in 2000, $500,000 in 2001, $600,000 in 2002, and in 2005 it jumped to $750,000, where it remained until 2017. Last year, it dropped to $500,000, which is the purse this year.
The race earned Grade III status in 2002, was raised to Grade II in 2009, and reverted to Grade III in 2017. Despite intense competition from multiple lucrative 3-year-old stakes on the East Coast within a two-week period, participation in the West Virginia has held up surprisingly well; average field size from 1998-2018 was 9.33, and on eight occasions 10-12 horses competed.
This year's Derby will be held Saturday, Aug. 3, with a special first post time of 2 p.m. Entries for the Derby and six other stakes that will head an expected nine-race program will close Monday, July 29.