In an interview about Winning Colors before the Derby, Lukas stated, “This field can hit her from every angle, but I don’t think they will be able to run with her early, and hopefully the big field in the Derby will cause traffic trouble for many of the closers like Risen Star. The last eighth of a mile will be the test for her, but I believe in my heart she is the best and will win this race.”
Dino and Miami were also worried about Goodbye Halo entering the Kentucky Derby field. Her trainer had recently paid a $3,000 late nominating fee to keep her eligible for the Triple Crown honor, which is winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. They were thrilled to hear Goodbye Halo’s trainer quoted earlier in the week saying, “There’s too much money to be made just by running within her own division. And I think Mr. Hancock would love to win the Kentucky Oaks.” The Kentucky Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies, is run at Churchill Downs the day before the Kentucky Derby and is the most prestigious race in the country for 3-year-old fillies.
In their continuing conversations, it was Miami who broached the subject of the assassination of El Gato. “How does Jorge Rhon being suspected of the murder affect us? Apparently, the murderers are his racetrack security guys. What if they arrest Rhon?”
“These politicos are protected in Mexico. His dad was the mayor of Mexico City. I bet nothing ever happens to him. Still, I know the racetrack is in serious financial trouble and this has to hurt big time. Who in the hell is going to go to Agua Caliente racetrack now—with the track’s guards in the newspapers every day as murder suspects? Do you want to go make bets there? It doesn’t matter that they offer better future book odds than Las Vegas. Everyone will just go to Vegas. That Mexican racetrack is toast. I worry that if Winning Colors wins, they’ll just close the doors. Why pay out tens of millions now and then file bankruptcy a few months later?”
“I’ve been reading that Rhon still has a chance to get Mexico licensed as a sports book betting company. He has to keep that going. It would make a ton of money. If he doesn’t pay the Winning Colors bet, then no gambler will ever bet with him again. I think he will pay… and Dino? You know that’s the gamblers’ code, man. You may not pay your rent, or your car payment, but you always pay your gambling debts…that’s the way it works.”
Miami was quiet until he could articulate even more fear. “What I am really concerned about is that after she wins…they’ll know we are coming to collect our money. There are bad guys all over and they know a bunch of gringos are coming to collect millions of dollars in cash if she wins. They are probably setting the roadblocks for us now. We have to think this thing through. Jesus Christ, this is scary.”
They agreed to meet again later that night to make their plans for watching the race and cashing the biggest score of their gambling lives.
Luis woke at 3:30 a.m. and put on some clean jeans, his better pair of black cowboy boots, a clean white long-sleeved shirt, and his tan cowboy hat. He kissed Mariana goodbye, grabbed his duffel bag, and headed to his pick-up truck. He had a plane to catch with his favorite horse.
When he arrived at the barn at 4:15 a.m., Winning Colors had already been fed and her legs were wrapped. She came to the front of the stall to meet him, or perhaps for the carrots she knew he would bring. He talked to her softly in Spanish, telling her that it would be a long day of travel to Kentucky, but he would stay with her as much as he could. He’d traveled with her before to New York and back, knew she was high strung, and he was worried about anything happening to her before her debut in Kentucky. He hooked up her halter, which she now allowed only Luis to do, and he led her from her stall for the quarter-mile walk to the horse transportation van at the Santa Anita barn entrance.
Their drive to the airport was one hour away. She was calm and still as he walked her up the ramp to the custom-made trailer. The trailer was clean as an operating room and Jeff Lukas already had placed the type of fresh straw and water preferred by the horse on the floor of her tight stall. Another two horses were already on the van across from her and were going to Kentucky as well. Luis rode with her to the airport in the cab of the truck.
The Boeing 727 could fly as many as 21 horses, but today there were just five making the flight. Luis was glad she would not be alone; she seemed to enjoy the sense of safety being next to other horses gave her, even if she often tried to bite them. If she was the first one on, and first one off the van or the plane, she tended to stay calm. He led her down the ramp into the horse stall that would be then lifted on a special forklift to the tall jet. The padded travel stall was also lined with the Lukas brand of fresh straw and water, but was small and close, designed to keep her in a tight box to avoid her moving and hurting herself if there was air turbulence during the four-hour flight. She did not want to enter the tight box, but he had saved carrots for this reason. Luis went to the front of the stall and when she saw him and the carrots he
