LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ For a veteran trainer of 25 years and an owner born in Greenville who's enjoyed racing almost all his life, it would be easy to see how making their first Kentucky Derby together would be reward enough in itself.
But By My Standards trainer Bret Calhoun and owner Chester Thomas didn't come to Churchill Downs this week to be a part of it.
They came to win.
"I've always said I don't want to just be here. I want to be here for a reason," said Calhoun, a Dallas, Texas, native who has won some big races over the years, including the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Chamberlain Ridge in 2010. "I want to have a chance. I felt like this horse has a big chance. I know it's a big rush for people just to be here. I get that, and I enjoy the ride. But, personally, I only want to be here if we're competitive and have a legitimate chance. And this is a legitimate horse."
By My Standards, a Kentucky-bred bay colt by Goldencents out of A Jealous Woman, won the Louisiana Derby as a 22-1 shot. He'll go out of post No. 3 on Saturday in the Derby with morning line odds of 20-1.
"The neat thing is, we're not in this just because we got the points," said Thomas, who's been an owner since 2008 racing in Louisiana and Kentucky, including Ellis Park near his Madisonville home. "We're bringing a live horse here. He's improving every day. His demeanor is unbelievable."
The Louisiana win proved the potential Calhoun and Thomas saw in the colt from his early days in training and validated their decision to go after a Derby prep a month after he broke his maiden.
"Every day was a better day," Calhoun said of working with By My Standards. "Finally, when he broke his maiden, he got his confidence and he turned into a different horse then. I think the confidence really helped him a lot. He kind of figured things out and his confidence rose and that's when he became the Louisiana Derby winner."
Making it into the Louisiana Derby wasn't a given. When Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort turned the Rebel Stakes into two races to help accommodate for the loss of another Derby prep at Santa Anita Park, By My Standards found his way into Louisiana's 11-horse field.
Then jockey Gabriel Saez found his way to the front, splitting horses down the frontstretch and overtaking second-choice Spinoff by three-fourths of a length at the wire as the favorite and now-fellow Derby contender War of Will faded badly off the pace.
Calhoun and Thomas have been part of Derby Day, running one horse or another on the undercard at various times with various other connections. Being part of the Derby is different.
"Obviously, there's a lot of extra hype for the Derby because it is the race, but it's always nerve-wracking," Calhoun said of his approach to races. "I don't care if you're running a $5,000 claimer, you always get a little excited, a little nervous. I guess when you quit getting that rush, you'll quit. We get pretty excited about every one we run. This is just a little bit extra intensity."
The Derby marks the biggest race Calhoun has been in and he knows how fortunate he is.
"People who aren't in the business don't quite know what all goes into getting one here from the beginnings," Calhoun said. "The breedings, the matings, keeping them healthy, happy and sound and then getting one with the God-given talent to get here and not come up with a cough the night before. There are so many things that go into it. It's a lot of hard work."
For Thomas, who once quit college as a young man to briefly try his hand as a jockey's agent, the Derby highlights a lifelong love of racing.
"This week's probably a once-in-a-lifetime week for us as horse owners, but we're having fun with it, embracing it and just staying grounded and we'll see what happens," Thomas said. "Being a Kentuckian, this is like a national holiday. It should be. It's special. It's hard to put in words."
