"Everybody Thought I Was Nuts"

Trainer Johnny Campo's colt wins the Derby, of course f f/^ eez," said Trainer Johnny Campo just before the 107th running of the Kentucky Derby, "this is going to be tougher to win than I thought." Still, Campo never budged in his contention that Pleasant Colony, the Virginia-bred colt trained by the New York-bred Campo, would finish at the head of the jumble of 21 three-year-olds. At 7-to-2 odds, his horse was only the bettors' third favorite, after the paired entry of Proud Appeal and Golden Derby (2-to-1). But the smart money began fluttering in his direction after his startling three-length triumph at Aqueduct's important Wood Memorial two weeks earlier. "I was a guy with a nice stable of claiming horses," said Campo. "Then I had a horse who won the Wood. That's a genius? I got lucky."

He was luckier still on Derby Day.

Pleasant Colony loped around Churchill Downs on Saturday in an unhurried 2 min. 2 sec. to come in first by three-quarters of a length, paying $9 to bettors with a win ticket. Woodchopper, a 35-to-1 shot, finished second, and Partez, at 7-to-1, came in third. Proud Appeal, the favorite, was out front briefly but finished 18th, behind Cure the Blues in 15th.

Pleasant Colony, Campo claimed all along, was bred for long races--the Derby is 1% miles--and Jockey Jorge Velasquez has a fine reputation as a distance rider--a reputation that was confirmed when the dark bay colt nosed into the lead coming into the home stretch. "I never had to check my horse," said Velasquez, who had been 0 for 5 in Derby mounts. "I just had to weave in and out, and work my way between the horses. I let go, and he took off, running like a mad horse." The 34-year-old Panamanian jockey had never ridden Pleasant Colony before. Campo was evidently not troubled by that, or by anything else. "I'm a good horse trainer, pop," Campo bellowed to a television interviewer from the winner's circle, "and don't ever forget it."

Without a daunting supercolt in this year's Derby, owners of scores of good, bad and worse animals felt they had a shot at winning. After the unmanageable centennial running of 1974, in which 23 mediocre three-year-olds jostled each other, the usually laissez-faire officials of Churchill Downs turned stern: they pushed entrance fees up to a stiff $7,600 and set a 20-entrant maximum for future Derbies. The cut was to be determined by the colts' comparative earnings. Never was the limit trotted out, however, until last week. As a consequence, Flying Nashua and two lesser colts were denied Derby slots. "Only in Kentucky could this happen," pouted Larry Barrera, Flying Nashua's trainer. "The money rule is stupid." But the day before the race, Flying Nashua's owners found a county judge who agreed that the officials' interpretation of the money rule was flawed. The colt was reinstated, and 50,000 Derby program inserts had to be printed quickly.

For his victory, Pleasant Colony earned $317,000 in two minutes, the biggest Derby purse ever--and considerably more than Pleasant Colony's $202,000 in career earnings before Saturday afternoon. Owner Thomas Mellon Evans said simply, "I think it's terrific." Campo claims he was not surprised. "I just kept telling everybody I'm going to win. Everybody thought I was nuts." He figures to be a winner again in two weeks. Says he: "I pity them poor guys in the Preakness."

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