LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The race lasts but two minutes and change. Such a silly little hiccup of time, one that should be devoted to life’s little chores — the brushing of teeth, the combing of hair — not to the fulfilling of a dream.
In the time it takes a thoroughbred to run a mile-and-a-quarter, Dean Reeves, the builder of a successful Atlanta-area construction company and proud pater familias, experienced one of the great rushes of his life.
When Saturday’s Kentucky Derby was done, he had but one regret:
“Oh, if we had just a little bit farther.”
His Mucho Macho Man made a stirring stretch run, reeling in the leaders before crossing the finish line third, a neck back of second-place Nehro and nearly three lengths to the rear of Derby winner Animal Kingdom.
So much had led to a moment that had ended so quickly.
It was four years ago that Reeves first spoke the words.
Before the Suwanee man bought his first horse, as he talked with a trainer, Angel Penna, who had volunteered to introduce a neophyte to the strange new world of thoroughbreds, this rank beginner dared say: “Angel, I only have one goal. I want to have a horse in the Kentucky Derby.”
“Well,” said Reeves, recalling his tutor’s slightly mocking tone, “he was like, ‘Everybody wants that.’”
“I told him, ‘I didn’t say I had to win the Kentucky Derby, I just want to run a horse in the Kentucky Derby. That should really up my odds.
“He kind of chuckled at that.”
As the entourage for Mucho Macho Man collected by his barn before Saturday’s race, one observer noted: “No way the horse can win — look at all the people on his back.”
Reeves was in charge of a small army of supporters. The Mucho Macho Man ownership structure is a many-limbed tree, Reeves having 70 percent, and a syndicate called Dream Team Racing splitting up the remaining 30 percent among 13 buyers.
They all showed, with their families, and trailed behind Mucho Macho Man on the walk from the barn to the paddock.
As this parade of more than a hundred people passed the stands, those who had plunked their money on 9-to-1 Mucho Macho Man cheered their investment.
It was a great wall of humanity facing the entering horses, a record crowd of more than 160,000 stuffing the track.
Reeves gave his supporters fist pumps and thumbs up all the way to the paddock, as if he were a stumping politician.
He has never heard cheers like that when he finished one of his construction projects.
More than 32,000 thoroughbreds were foaled in 2008. Among them was the long, leggy product of a brief encounter between sire Macho Uno and dam Ponche de Leona.
His Florida breeders first thought about naming the little colt Lazarus, since he had appeared still born, only to jerk to life after a few frightening minutes. But, liking the alliteration as well as the Hispanic lilt, they settled on Mucho Macho Man.
Around one horse would gather a broad spectrum of people claiming pieces of him.
As well as the construction business owner, there is the original outfit that purchased Mucho Macho Man for $68,000 and later syndicated him and sold a 70 percent share to Reeves — Dream Team Racing.
Two on the Dream Team are from the Atlanta area.
One is a full partner in the business, Smyrna’s Kostas Hatzikoutelis.
Another is a young banker from Snellville, Gregg Sharrington, who for $800 bought a 1-percent share of Mucho Macho Man a year ago. He almost didn’t do it. He and his wife were expecting their second child, and $800 will buy a lot of diapers. “But he was so big, even then, that we decided to take the chance,” Sharrington said.
Who knows, maybe he would be one in 32,000 that would be special.
The adrenaline rush of those two minutes Saturday was plain on Hatzikoutelis’ face afterward. He was ready to run another race, soon.
“I’m going to go home and rest for a few hours and then start thinking about the next one,” he said.
“What a warrior that horse is.”
Winning is supposed to be the only thing, according to football coaches and corporate heads.
But all through the Mucho Macho Man camp, during both the build-up to the race and afterward, the sentiment ran strong about how blessed they all were to just be there.
This was a day to be appreciated beyond a position on a tote board.
“Obviously we’re disappointed we didn’t win. ... but ... we finished third in the Kentucky Derby,” Sharrington said, somewhat incredulously.
“We showed we belonged in this caliber of race with this caliber of horses.”
And the third-place purse in the Kentucky Derby is $200,000 — not a bad consolation.
Mucho Macho Man arrived at Churchill Downs in the early morning hours of April 18. Reeves also arrived then, driving around the periphery of the old track in order to view its landmark twin spires lit up like a cathedral’s bell towers. He was a pilgrim as much as he was an owner.
He would be there, too, most every morning that Mucho Macho Man trained on the track.
Leaning against a privileged portion of backside railing reserved for those with skin in the game, Reeves never grew tired of watching his horse’s idiosyncratic prerun routine.
Each morning, his exercise rider would position Mucho Macho Man just off the track. There the horse would stand as still as an old cast-iron statue of Traveler, just watching the other horses running their laps. Sometimes, he would stand there for as long as 20 minutes, just taking it all in.
So, Reeves was asked, how does the rider know when to take him on the track?
“It’s when Mucho decides to go,” the owner answered.
That is the life he has chosen, one ultimately framed by whenever a horse decides he wants to run.
Mucho Macho Man definitely decided to kick it in down the finish Saturday.
He was out of sight of his owners as he mixed it up in the middle of the pack down the backstretch. He stepped out from them as they hit the top of the stretch, gaining ground in long, grinding strides.
Without the benefit of studying a replay, Reeves said afterward, “He probably didn’t get out of the traffic quick enough, but he was really moving toward the front at the finish.”
His wife and partner in every step of this Derby experience, Patti, beamed afterward. “Winning may have been a little over the top. Finishing third at the Kentucky Derby was pretty special.”
Her husband seconded the emotion.
“It was everything I dreamed it would be. It was one of the real special moments of our lives. I’m proud of the horse and the way it finished. We will get to the winner’s circle again.”
One whale of a Derby party was done, over in a flash, just a few yards too soon.
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