A longtime owner of thoroughbreds in Alberta, Bill Dory dreamed of just one thing: running a horse in the Canadian Derby.
Barring something unfortunate, Dory’s dream will come true on August 26 at Century Mile where Chase the Chaos, whom he owns with his wife Sandy and his friend Adam Ference, is headed.
Moreover, Dory appears to have a really good chance of winning the Derby. Winner of the El Camino Real in California earlier this year, Chase the Chaos is also the first horse - at least in recent memory - to run in a leg of the North American Triple Crown and then contest the Canadian Derby: Chase the Chaos ran fifth in the Preakness.
“I’ll be happy just to be in the Derby,” said Dory, 68, who was born and raised in Edmonton and now lives a few furlongs from Devon.
“That was always my goal. My dream. Knock on wood nothing happens between now and then.”
For a while Dory was thinking about a different Derby: the Kentucky Derby. But after Chase the Chaos finished unplaced in two races - the Grade 2 San Felipe and the black type California Derby - the Dorys’ and Ference, who lives about a good 3-wood from Blackhawk golf course, changed their plans and started thinking instead about Edmonton’s Derby.
“He got blown out pretty good in those two races in California but his win in the El Camino Real gave him an automatic entry into the Preakness so we thought ‘Why not?’
“He finished about a dozen lengths behind National Treasure in the Preakness but it was absolutely wonderful. They treated us like royalty. It was a great experience.
“And he even made $45,000 (US) finishing fifth.”
Despite Chase the Chaos’ credentials - he was also second and third in two other California stakes races - Dory isn’t counting on anything.
“We turned him out for about two months and he hasn’t raced since the Preakness. He needed the rest after the Preakness. He’s done a lot of racing for a young horse,” said Dory of the three-year-old, who is now being trained by Carson Frey. “Now, we’re just hoping to have him in good shape for the Derby and that won’t be easy.”
The Manitoba Derby, the first leg of a new $550,000 Western Triple Crown Series, is next week on August 7 but Chase the Chaos, who worked a sharp 4 furlongs in :48 4/5 seconds on Sunday, won’t be going there.
“There’s no way he would be ready to run in Winnipeg. It’ll be tough enough to get him ready for the Canadian Derby. He needs all the time he can get.”
Bought - sight unseen - for $10,000 as a weanling in Kentucky, Chase the Chaos was initially trained by Robertino Diodoro, who said the horse was “Probably the worst acting broke two-year-old we’ve had in a long time. My assistant, Matt Williams and his help spent a lot of extra time with that horse.”
Dory said Chase the Chaos has completely changed since then.
“He’s a really easy going horse now. We put him in a paddock on the farm with a bunch of colts and he just played and played. Sometimes we would stop on the road to watch him play.”
As well as Chase the Chaos having to run for the first time in about three months, Dory is also worried about something else.
“His (speed rating) numbers are not great,” he said of recent speed numbers in the low 80’s.
Then there is the competition. Diodoro, one of North America’s leading trainers, is expected to send two horses to the Derby: Heroic Move and B Minor. Both will run in the Manitoba Derby, a race Diodoro has won a record four times: (2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022.)
Heroic Move finished a troubled third when he was taken wide in he $250,000 Iowa Derby where he got a speed rating of 103; B Minor has been running against allowance company in the U.S. and broke his maiden in a $120,000 wide open Maiden Special Weight at Churchill Downs, Kentucky.
“Tino (Diodoro) has so damn many horses. You know when he sends something to the Derby he’ll be bringing good ones,” said Dory of a trainer who has won the Canadian Derby four times including last year with Great Escape.
Dory has been close to running in the Canadian Derby.
He had a horse called The Great Caper in 2011, who finished second in a Derby prep race, the Western Canada Handicap.
“He would have been one of the favourites for that year’s Derby. But while he was training for the Derby The Great Caper broke a sesamoid bone in one ankle.
“I darn near quit racing at that time; I was so down in the dumps,” said Dory.
“I was relatively new to the game and I was thinking of getting out. You get your hopes all built up and then something like that happens. It kind of crushed me.
“Now I understand more about horses and horse racing. While that was a real downer the highs are real high too.”
The Great Caper healed from his sesamoid injury and went on to run in 58 races of which he won 13 of them.
“He’s still around. He’s running around at the farm,” said Dory, who got into racing about 20 years ago - first with Al Strumecki, then with Carla Christofferson.
Owning probably 100 horses over the years there was one year where he had 29 horses between California and his Alberta farm including broodmares, weanlings and yearlings.
While Chase the Chaos is easily the best horse Dory has owned he had a mare named Sea n Win who was also a nice horse.
“She won her second start in California and I got a call from Kentucky offering me $200,000 U.S. I turned it down. A year later she was claimed for $8,000. On top of that they bred her and the first foal sold for $190,000.
“That’s how you mismanage a horse.”
After the Derby, Chase the Chaos will head for Pennsylvania where he was bred.
“There are some Pennsylvania-bred stakes races where a guy can make some money.
“I really think he wants to run on grass. But there’s no grass here. His sire, Astern, won on grass in Australia where he won a Group 1 race. Chase the Chaos broke his maiden on grass. And he’s won on synthetic tracks. Dirt is still a question mark for me.”
Unfortunately, time is also of the essence. “I have health issues,” said Dory. “This could be my last chance to run in the Derby.”
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