Word: jolley
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...then did Honest Pleasure's trainer, LeRoy Jolley, not look so jolly after the race? For one thing, the colt did not win the Blue Grass in his customary runaway style. His time was poor (1:49 2/5% for the 1⅛% mile) and his margin a mere 1½ lengths over a 148-to-l shot named Certain Roman, primarily because he fought furiously against Jockey Braulio Baeza's efforts to slow him in the backstretch. For another, there is Bold Forbes, a sprightly East Coast colt who was thought to be essentially a sprinter until...
Most recently, trainer Leroy Jolley sent the son of Whatapleasure out for some air in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, a race in which it took jockey Braulio Baeza's choking hold on the horse to keep him from motoring away from a lackluster field. Prior to that, Honest Pleasure captured the Florida Derby virtually uncontested, eased up at the end of a mile...
...trainer of a horse that had won ten out of eleven races and was rated the commanding favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, LeRoy Jolley could not be blamed if he felt a little cocky before the 101st Derby last week. Jolley, though, was anything but arrogant about his sleek bay colt, Foolish Pleasure. And for good reason: 13 years ago Jolley, then an untested young trainer, came to Churchill Downs with popular favorite Ridan, only to see his horse fade in the stretch and finish third in the 1¼-mi. test for three-year-olds. This year...
When the field of 15 thoroughbreds broke from the starting gate Saturday afternoon, Jolley thought that his worst fears might be confirmed. Foolish Pleasure, with Panamanian Jockey Jacinto Vasquez at the reins, quickly dropped back to a distant twelfth, far from his usual position close to the pace. Bombay Duck, bred for speed, held the early lead, but as the stallions pounded down the backstretch, Avatar, a California mount, moved up to challenge. Foolish Pleasure, running on the rail, was still no better than seventh. "He looked as if he wasn't handling the track too well," Jolley explained...
...most satisfied man at the track, though, was undoubtedly Jolley. A look-alike but not act-alike for Comedian Bob Newhart, the taciturn Jolley, 37, was bred for the Derby. Born in Hot Springs, Ark., while his father, Trainer Moody Jolley, was racing there, LeRoy was a stable veteran at 19, when he received a trainer's license in New York and dropped out of the University of Miami to race full time. Foolish Pleasure was only his second Derby entry in an otherwise solid but unspectacular career. One of the hardest workers in the business, Jolley says: "Most...