Page 18 - New Mexico Summer 2022

mid ‘80s. At the peak of their partnership, they were breeding about 800 horses a year. Eventually he opened Buena Suerte Equine on a site next to Buena Suerte Ranch.
In time, Blach met Mark Allen, a former oil field worker and roughneck cowboy. In 2008, they bought the then 2-year-old Mine That Bird for $400,000. The Kentucky Derby was not on their radar and their plan was to run Mine That Bird in big money stakes races in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
“We planned on running him in the Sunland Derby, they had a purse of $800,000,” said Doc. “Lone Star had a derby for $500,000. The Oklahoma Derby was worth $500,000. Houston, San Antonio, Remington and Lone Star, there was a $100,000 race every time you turned around. We weren’t thinking we could win all of them, but we thought we could get second, third or fourth. Clip off $20,000 here and $30,000 there. We’d pay our way and have some fun. That’s all we were after.”
The fun turned serious when they found out Mine That Bird had earned enough money during his 2-year-old racing season in Canada to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. After a late-night discussion over a bottle of Don Julio tequila, Mark and Doc decided to take a shot. Their bar of expectation was so low, they figured if Mine That Bird could beat one horse, that would be good enough.
The oddsmakers had a similar opinion of Mine That Bird. He went off in the derby at
odds of 50-to-1. He outran those
odds and the 18 other horses - I
Want Revenge was scratched
the morning of the race - in a spectacular last to first run that
no one saw coming. Certainly not the Blach clan, whose excitement of having a horse in the derby had been tempered by Doc’s pre-race ‘we don’t have a chance’ assessment.
“He didn’t have to prepare us, we all knew what the odds were,” said Pamela, who along with Kevin and Serena made the trip to Louisville. “I went for the experience. It was exciting to be there and see the hoopla that surrounded it.”
Pamela took a camera to film the race and it started just like they expected.
“When the race took off, I was standing on
a chair,” said Pamela. “I could see (Mine That Bird) was dead last and falling further and further behind. I looked at my brother and we were both saying, ‘pass one horse, just one horse.’”
Pamela teared up. She thought of her dad and how much she wanted the race to be a good experience for him. She need not have worried.
“When they came around the (final) turn,
I couldn’t see because of all the mud until they were right in front of me,” recalls Pamela. “By then, Mine That Bird was ahead by 2-lengths. I was shaking, I couldn’t get off the chair. I couldn’t believe it.”
In the moments that followed, the family shared an array of emotions, from shock to euphoria to laughter.
“We’re like, this isn’t happening. We started crying and we all just stood and looked at each other. Then we started laughing,” said Pamela. “We didn’t know where to go. Mark was trying to find my dad and my dad was trying to find Mark. It was exhilarating, a feeling I’ve never had.”
Doc and Mark started out hoping they could recoup the $400,000 they spent to purchase Mine That Bird. After the Triple Crown races, Mine That Bird had earned them $2.4 million. He finished second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont.
Pamela and Kevin, by the way, ignored their dad’s advice not to bet on their horse. She cashed in for $3,000 and Kevin won more than $10,000.
There was the usual post derby analysis of why and how Mine That Bird could pull off such a seemingly improbable shocker. He crossed the finish line 6 3/4-lengths in front of favorite Pioneer of The Nile. That was the largest margin of victory in the derby in more than 60 years.
One theory was that the muddy track had leveled the playing field and made it a wide-open race. Others credited jockey Calvin Borel with doing what he does best--ride the rail as he
masterfully guided
16 New Mexico Horse Breeder
Photo by Matt Goins
Jockey Calvin Borel celebrates his win aboard Mine That Bird following the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, May 2, 2009.