Derby favorite Lookin at Lucky has Valley tie-in

As the horse racing world turns its attention to Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Ky., this weekend, a horse with Carson Valley connections will be taking center stage.

Washoe Valley resident Mike Pegram, who bought the Carson Valley Inn earlier this year with a small team of investors, owns the favorite to win this year's Kentucky Derby - Lookin at Lucky.

As of Thursday morning, the 3-year-old colt was a 3-to-1 favorite for what has been deemed "The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports."

"You tell anyone you're involved in horse racing and the first thing they ask you is if you've been to the Kentucky Derby," said Pegram, who also co-owns Bodine's Casino in south Carson City. "It's the same as if you met a professional football player. The first thing you ask him is if he's ever been to the Super Bowl.

"Everybody is trying to get into this race. There are hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year buying horses and everyone has one race in mind when they do."

In the year leading up to the derby, candidate horses accumulate earnings in graded stakes races - races that anyone can enter, regardless of number of previous victories.

"Everyone in a stakes race is treated equally and your success in those races is partly what the derby looks at," Pegram said.

Starting in January, horses can be nominated for the derby at the cost of $600. This year, 450 horses were nominated.

That group is later whittled down to 20, based on whoever has the most earnings at the stakes races.

"If you want to get to the Kentucky Derby, there are three things you need," Pegram said. "You need a great horse to even get there.

"You have to have good timing - The derby is only once a year and you have to have a horse peaking at the right times to get there. It's like the Olympics that way. And you have to be lucky. You have to have a good trip to get there."

Pegram would know. He's been there before.

His horse, Real Quiet, won the derby in 1998 in a time of 2:02.20 and then went on to win the Preakness before falling just short of racing's triple crown, taking second at the Belmont Stakes.

"We won the race in 1998 and it was so close for the triple crown," Pegram said. "The good thing about that was the horse still thinks he won the triple crown because he never got passed. It came right down to the wire."

He had another horse, Captain Steve, make the derby field and finish eighth in 2000. Some of his other horses with recent success include Mayor Marv and Midnight Lute.

"It's so tough to get through the Kentucky Derby," Pegram said. "It's the hardest race to win. You're asking 3-year-old horses to do something they've never done before, and that's go a mile and a quarter.

"If the horse is good enough to win, then you know you were just plain lucky."

Pegram grew up in southern Indiana, right across the river from the racing track.

"I can't remember a time when I wasn't going to the track to watch races," he said. "I always knew I'd own horses some day."

He opened his first McDonald's restaurant in 1975, the first in a series, and owned his first horse in 1977.

"I've been going with it ever since," Pegram said.

Along the way, he teamed up with Bob Baffert, one of horse racing's best and most-recognizable trainers. Baffert has three derby wins, four Preaknesses and one Belmont win to his name.

Baffert has been training Lookin at Lucky as well.

"We've got the best trainer out there," Pegram said. "I've been with Bobby for 20 some odd years now. We've had a lot of luck and a lot of fun."

Lookin at Lucky has the makings of a special horse. He's won seven races in the last year and was the 2-year-old champion last year out of a crop of 200 colts.

"We knew he was special the first time we saw him," Pegram said. "But you get a lot of special horses that are special but never live up to their potential.

"This horse has never done a thing wrong. If this horse was human, you'd want him for your best friend. He's perfect."

And he'll have to be perfect to win it on Saturday. Lookin at Lucky drew the troublesome rail position for the race, and this will be the largest field he's raced against. His previous biggest race was 12 horses, and he took second there.

Still, his ability to overcome obstacles during the past year, not to mention his ability to keep a brisk pace (he completed five furlongs in 1:00.38 earlier this week) has many experts picking him to win.

"We're in a good position heading in, but favorites don't win this race very often," Pegram said. "Anything can happen in any horse race, but that is especially so for the derby." The Kentucky Derby, which has run on the first Saturday of May since 1875, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday on NBC.