The Road to the Kentucky Derby Begins in Monrovia

By Bob Feld

For over a century, kings, queens, sheiks and billionaires have coveted winning the world-famous Kentucky Derby run each year on the first Saturday in May in Louisville, Kentucky under the twin spires of Churchill Downs racetrack. This year you can add an All-American family living in the All-American city of Monrovia to the list of the Who’s Who.

This family doesn’t pull up to Pavilions in a limo, they jog the streets of Hillcrest, Myrtle and Foothill and they are just another couple sitting next to you at Cafe Opera or the London Gastropub. Yet they are on the verge of becoming a story, possibly THE story, of the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby.

The aforementioned dignitaries of the sport of thoroughbred racing have historically spent hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to buy or breed a Kentucky Derby winner. Many would settle for a strong Kentucky Derby contender, which is very hard to come by.

Imagine going to the Kentucky Derby with a horse that cost less than a Mint Julep but the same price as the free souvenir glass it comes in? When it comes to the Kentucky Derby there is no doubt that dreams are free. In this instance the Kentucky Derby hopeful was free. Yes…free!

Enter Mike and Dana Machowsky. Dana, a mother of three daughters and a local real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in Arcadia, has been married to trainer Mike Machowsky for 10 years. Dana knew going into her marriage what the racetrack life was all about. Dana had been around horsemen her entire life when you consider her grandfather was also a trainer and her father Joe Cannon, DVM is one of the most respected thoroughbred veterinarians in the country.

Although Dana was familiar with the racetrack lifestyle but she may not have been prepared for the roller coaster ride of being the wife of a thoroughbred trainer. “I knew about the early mornings and no time off but I was not aware of the stress that is involved,” said Mrs. Machowsky. “I have learned over the years to deal with it. I know when he is stressed out at times it is best to leave him be. The business by nature is very streaky and it gets tough sometimes if you are on a cold streak. Things are great right now.”

The “free” horse that may put them in the racing history books is named Caracortado, which is a loose translation of scar face in Spanish. The horse was bred by her husband after a filly he was training for a partnership, that included the Machowsky’s, needed to be retired without ever racing.

The two other partners gave their shares of the filly, Mons Venus, to the Machowsky’s and Mike told his wife Dana he thought the filly was worth breeding because he had detected talent in her while she was in training. A good friend of theirs then gave them a free breeding to the stallion Cat Dreams. The rest, as they say, is history.

“I do remember during one summer in Del Mar that Mike was really excited about a filly he had in his barn named Mons Venus,” recalled Machowsky. “Never did I expect to own her as a broodmare one day and could never have imagined that she would produce her second baby that has turned out this good. It’s been very exciting and we have had so much fun with the whole Kentucky Derby situation.”

It is no doubt a family affair when you consider that Mike Machowsky not only bred Caracortado, he trains him and owns him with his wife in partnership with Don Blahut . The “free” horse got his name due to the fact that when he arrived from the farm to the Santa Anita barn of his trainer, he had seven stitches on his forehead from a minor head injury. The stitches have been paid for many times over as Caracortado has now earned over $200,000 in his short career for his connections.

The Machowsky’s bred “free to free” and got a horse that started off running in a claiming race at Fairplex Park which is a Kentucky Derby route that is not traveled too often if ever. Caracortado won his first five races including the Grade 2 Bob Lewis Stakes which propelled him into the Kentucky Derby limelight as one of the top West Coast hopefuls.

Caracortado will be running Saturday, April 3 in the prestigious Santa Anita Derby, the last California stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby. If Caracortado can finish in the top three positions he will have punched his ticket to Kentucky and the Machowsky’s of Monrovia will be on their way to the Big Show with the Big Horse leading the way.

The local Monrovia couple will be out to prove that yes…the best things in life are often free.

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