Faded Glory: Forgotten Winners of the Kentucky Derby (Venetian Way, 1960)

The history of the Kentucky Derby has seen winners from 15 states, Canada, and England. Some have human connections whose names grace the list of victors multiple times, while others are the product of smaller stables finding the winner’s circle on racing’s biggest day. 

In 1960, with a Hall of Famer in the saddle, Venetian Way scored his signature victory for his soft-spoken owner and big-dreaming trainer, with his ultimate legacy coming in the form of another historic moment for America’s most famous race. 

Royal Coinage x Firefly

In the pantheon of Kentucky Derby-winning jockeys, two names share the record for the most wins with five: Eddie Arcaro, the Hall of Fame rider whose wins include two Triple Crown winners, and Bill Hartack, the Pennsylvania native whose five wins came in just 12 mounts, including a turn on the legendary Northern Dancer in 1964. His first win came on Calumet’s Iron Liege in 1957, two years before Hartack was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at the young age of 27. The following year, the celebrated jockey got his second win on a chestnut colt named Venetian Way.

Named for a Miami causeway, this future Derby victor came from the pairing of Royal Coinage, a multiple stakes winner at two who had the misfortune of coming from the same crop as Nashua, and the mare Firefly, who won once in her 17 starts. Bred by John W. Greathouse’s Glencrest Farm, Venetian Way was entered in the 1958 Keeneland July yearling sale, where trainer Victor Sovinski spotted the Royal Coinage colt for owner Isaac Blumberg. They got the promising colt for $10,500, another bargain that would reap rewards, just like their earlier investment in Lincoln Road. 

Blumberg had fallen in love with horses in his native Lithuania and, after coming to America in 1911, used the fortune he had built through his Chicago machinery manufacturing business to invest in a stable of his own in the late 1940s. He bought a 23-acre farm in Des Plaines, Illinois, near Arlington Park, and named it Sunny Blue Farm. In 1956, Blumberg brought on Sovinski, who had turned to training full-time in 1945 after stints as a semi-professional baseball player, baker, and soldier. The pair had previous Derby experience with Lincoln Road, a colt named for another Miami thoroughfare, in 1958, finishing a half-length behind Tim Tam. The pair expected more of the same from their Royal Coinage colt.

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Blumberg, Sovinski, and Venetian Way

Venetian Way started strong in his two-year-old season, winning his three-furlong debut at Hialeah in late February. In August, he won the six-furlong Prairie State Stakes and, two weeks later, defeated the highly regarded Bally Ache in the Washington Park Futurity, both at Arlington. The Royal Coinage colt ended his 1959 season with four wins in nine starts, his record enough for Blumberg to field a $500,000 offer for Venetian Way. He turned it down, saying that he would have to spend twice that much to find another horse as good as Venetian Way. After coming within a half-length of a Derby two years earlier, both Blumberg and Sovinski anticipated that their colt stood a good chance of making their Derby dreams come true.

Sovinski started their road to roses with the seven-furlong Bahama Stakes on Feb. 3 at Hialeah. Venetian Way stayed with a winning Bally Ache throughout the first half-mile and then tired to finish out of the money. Ten days later, the Everglades Stakes was more of the same, with the Royal Coinage colt finishing back of Moslem Chief. Sovinski backed off of him for six weeks and then sent Venetian Way out for a six-furlong allowance at Gulfstream Park. He won by five lengths and then tried the Florida Derby on April 2, battling Bally Ache from the far turn to the wire, with his rival eking out the win by a nose. That performance was enough to earn Venetian Way a trip to Louisville. 

Sovinski tapped Bill Hartack to ride Blumberg’s colt in the Florida Derby and then again a week before the Kentucky Derby in the Stepping Stone Purse. Facing Bally Ache again, Venetian Way did not look like the same horse, appearing off as he finished 3 1/4 lengths behind the winner. The trainer had asked Hartack to gallop the colt out the full Derby distance; Hartack did not, blaming Sovinski for putting him on an ailing horse. The trainer was keen to replace the famed jockey, but Blumberg talked him out of it ahead of the big race a week later. That decision was key.

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On Derby Day, Venetian Way and Hartack entered stall 9, while Tompion broke from post 13 on the outside and Bally Ache from post 3 toward the rail. The latter was away fastest and held the lead until the far turn when Hartack gave his mount the cue and cut into Bally Ache’s lead with each stride. In the stretch, Venetian Way put that rival away and won by 3 1/2 lengths, running the 10 furlongs in a quick 2:02 2/5 over an off track. 

Sovinski and Blumberg were jubilant, the trainer saying, “I would rather win the Kentucky Derby than any other race in the world.” Blumberg saved one rose from Venetian Way’s blanket for each of his 13 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They tried their luck two weeks later at the Preakness, where the Royal Coinage colt finished out of the money, and then followed up the Derby victory with a second in the Belmont Stakes. Venetian Way won one more time, taking the Warren Wright Memorial Stakes at Washington Park before wrenching an ankle in the Arlington Classic, forcing his retirement. 

Sovinski did not have long to enjoy his classic victory; he passed away from a heart attack later that year. Venetian Way retired to Mare’s Nest Farm in Lexington, where he sired only 31 foals. The Derby winner fractured a hip in a paddock accident in 1964 and could not be saved. 

Ironically, Venetian Way’s 1960 Derby win had an unintended side effect. Sovinski alleviated Venetian Way’s chronic stifle, shin soreness, and splint troubles with phenylbutazone before the Derby, but could not do the same before the Preakness as "bute" was not legal in Maryland. Noting the difference between those performances, the Kentucky Racing Commission decided to ban the race-day use of the medication. This led to Dancer’s Image’s disqualification after bute showed up in his postrace urine sample in 1968. Phenylbutazone was legalized at certain levels for race-day use in 1974.