By John Scheinman
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, July 22, 2007

NEW KENT, Va., July 21 -- When jockey Horacio Karamanos arrived at Colonial Downs on Saturday morning, he knew he had mounts in nine of the 10 races scheduled. The one race the leading rider at the track was left out of was the big one, the Grade II $1 million Virginia Derby, but that changed when his agent, Kevin Witte, told Karamanos he had secured a ride on long shot Red Giant for Todd Pletcher.

The race attracted the best collection of 3-year-old turf horses assembled this year, and Red Giant, the least regarded of three Pletcher entrants in the race, went off as the longest price on the board at 37-1.

The horse and jockey, however, ignored the odds. Turning for home, Red Giant rushed up to leader Strike a Deal on the outside and the two dueled to the wire. After nearly five minutes, the photo finish was sorted out, and the 34-year-old Karamanos had come away with the biggest victory of his career.

Red Giant, a $350,000 son of Giant's Causeway owned by Peachtree Stable, not only won the Virginia Derby in front of a crowd of 8,695 and paid $76, he broke the track's 1 1/4 -mile course record, finishing in 1 minute 59.62 seconds.

Afterward, as top riders Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado, Ramon Dominguez and Garrett Gomez returned to the jockey's room, Karamanos rode into the winner's circle and began to pull flowers from the wreath around the neck of Red Giant and throw them into the crowd.

"I feel this is special for me," said Karamanos, who began his career in Argentina and is the all-time leading rider at Colonial Downs. "I win at this track every year. I feel this is my home. It's where I won my first meet [title] in the United States. I feel very happy, my first million-dollar race in this country."

Pletcher's assistant, Ginny DePasquale, said she had a feeling Red Giant would run well, but not that well. The chestnut colt had won three of his past four starts, including a small mile stakes race in his most recent start at Monmouth Park.

"We weren't expecting that," she said. "The horse is a bit of an aggressive horse. He wants to keep going and doing and doing. He was probably number three in the pecking order [after favorite Circular Quay, who finished sixth and Top Cross, who came in last]. I had a feeling he was going to hit the board. He likes winning."

The race began with Inca King setting a steady pass, running two 24-second quarter miles with Strike a Deal positioned off his right flank. Red Giant stalked the pace in fourth place, and when Strike a Deal seized the lead on the outside, Karamanos eased Red Giant outside and went to his whip, just getting by at the finish.

Summer Doldrums, who won the Colonial Turf Cup in June, rallied mildly and finished fourth.