Derby Dreams

1 ¼ miles of dirt. That’s all that stands between a jockey, his steed, and horse racing immortality.

This year’s Kentucky Derby, set to run at 6:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 1st, may pique more than the usual amount of interest here in the Ocean State. Because next month Hot Rod Charlie will run on behalf of Boat Racing, LLC, the brain trust of five former Brown University football players. Eric Armagost, Dan Giovaccini, Reiley Higgins, Patrick O’Neill, and Alex Quoyeser all graduated from Brown in 2015. As freshmen, each arrived to campus as pre-season recruits. Despite the ensuing competition, a camaraderie between the five quickly developed. Teammates became friends. Friends became fraternity brothers. And now this quintuplet, turned business partners, are on the threshold of winning horse racing’s premier event.

Gaining an invitation to the “Run for the Roses” is no easy task. In each of the stake races preceding the Derby, points are allocated to the fastest horses. Only the top twenty performers, based on point total, are offered a chance to race at Churchill Downs. There are no backroom deals to be made. No legacy privileges granted. Each horse has to earn it.

Included in this year’s lineup is Hot Rod Charlie, “the people’s horse” as co-minority owner Patrick O’Neill described him, a Cinderella story in the making. Coming into last November’s TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 94–1 odds, Hot Rod broke the bank with an unexpected second-place finish. He then placed third at the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita in January. Ending on a high note, last month Hot Rod streaked across the finish line of the Louisiana Derby in record time, snatching first place. Churchill Downs was suddenly within reach.

While talk of mint juleps and procuring a suitable hat is often the focus of Derby spectators, a whirlwind of activity goes on behind the scenes, out of sight from all but the true insiders. For “Chuck,” as Hot Rod Charlie is affectionately known, maintaining a routine is at the top of the to-do list.

Longtime trainer Doug O’Neill, Patrick’s uncle, oversees this angle. With two Derby winners, I’ll Have Another (2012) and Nyquist (2016), to his credit, the elder O’Neill clearly knows the ropes. Every morning, between 7:30–7:45 a.m., he employs an exercise jockey to put Hot Rod through his paces. Over the course of the day the horse is bathed, fed, watered, walked, and taken out to the pen to be left off rein. O’Neill has even placed goats in the stalls of some of his more…