2011 ND Derby Races
Thank the Academy
Dave Bernhardt steals the North Dakota Derby with Academy’s Win
In Saturday’s North Dakota Derby field of six you had one horse who earned the same amount of money as the rest of the field combined.You had one horse that broke her maiden at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, one of the most prestigious tracks in the Midwest.And you had a horse with a trainer who had won a trunk load of trophies for North Dakota-based horses over the past five years.
But what if all three of those statements applied to one single horse?And what if that same horse went off at 11-1?
Crazy but true.And naturally, there wouldn’t be a story if that horse Academy’s Win didn’t run away and hide with the $12,400 Derby.
“I’m just shocked,” Owner/Trainer Dave Bernhardt said while heading to the winner’s circle. “I kept thinking the other horse (stable mate Alexassilvercharm) but this one didn’t stop.”
If there was one thing that did stop this spring it was the belief in Academy’s Win.The chestnut daughter by Academy had a jump on her class when she toiled in $14,500-$18,000 maiden classes last summer at Canterbury Park.She wasn’t golden but she was being educated in the school of hard knocks.When she dropped down to a Maiden Claimer on July 15th she won by a head defeating Lil’ Irish Whiskey and All Bets Are Off (the latter owned by Canterbury Chair Curt Sampson who has gone on to win twice at the Shakopee track).
From there, class tests continued in Allowance Optional Claimers, with purses ranging between $17,000 and $20,000 plus. With those types of class tests, it appeared the North Dakota Derby class of 2011 was looking up to the chestnut filly.
But in this what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, everything changed.In her 2011 debut she started well but dropped back to be ninth in an $8,500 Claimer on June 17th.The bandwagon suddenly had some vacancy.
There to pick up the pieces was Bernhardt’s other entry Alexassilvercharm, an imposing gray filly that was never worse than fourth in her last four starts at Canterbury.She was running in bottom-level Maiden Claimers for owner Curt Rohweder but was still earning the respect around the Chippewa Downs barn area to be the 7-10 odds-on choice in the Derby. Rohweder and Bernhardt teamed up to win the 2007 North Dakota Derby in Winnipeg with Aferd’s Code Red, a lanky light gray just like ‘Silver.
Outside of the Canterbury connection there was the pair of fillies from Scott Horst’s barn, Striker’s Chance and Darby’s Big Blue, both recent maiden winners at Chippewa via the Fonner Park to Assiniboia Downs route. Also in the gate were BB Stable’s Buckorama, so striking after a second-place showing in a maiden event at Chippewa on June 19th that the public made him the 9-5 second choice.Ralph Buchholz‘ Patty’s Dream, third in two Chippewa maiden starts, was a 10-1 longshot who picked up more support at the windows than Academy’s Win.
“I didn’t care about it to tell you the honest truth,” Bernhardt said about the odds dismissal. “No one in the grandstand knows the horse, or what they’ve been doing lately. I figured only one thing heading into the race; if Alexassilvercharm got a clean trip, Academy’s Win wouldn’t beat her.”
Unlike the smooth eight hour van ride from Canterbury Park, the race trip did not go well for Alexassilvercharm. ” I didn’t know at one mile what would happen.But ‘Silver didn’t get the best trip – she probably ran 1 1/8 mile going wide on all the turns,” Bernhardt said. “Who knows if she had been on the rail and the other one would’ve been on the outside it could’ve been the other way around.”
But Derby Day played out the right way for Academy’s Win, who went right to the lead even though it wasn’t by design. “I wanted Sam Padilla to lay off and let ‘Silver go, because I didn’t want him to hook her only to burn them both out,” Bernhardt said.“Alexassilvercharm has shown more speed to me recently so I logically thought she’d be there.I was also worried if Academy’s Win somehow got the lead she might quit.”Bernhardt also went over Plan B with his jockey because of the way the earlier races on the card were playing out.“When I talked to Sam about being on the rail and if the lead was there I told him, ‘You go for It.’” Bernhardt said. 
As the race went on, it became clear to Bernhardt and the others in attendance that Academy’s Win was going, going, gone. “I kept waiting for ‘Win to quit on the lead until that last turn when ‘Silver went wide and then I knew they couldn’t catch him,” Bernhardt said of the final stage of the race. “That horse and jockey, they tried their best and they wanted to win the race.”
The final margin of victory in the wire-to-wire effort was 2 ½ lengths over Scott Horst’s Striker’s Chance who held off a late surge from Alexassilvercharm for the place spot.Buckorama was five lengths back in fourth.The final time of 1:45 1/5 was a new track record and the payout of $23.60 also turned some heads.
“If I was a betting man I don’t know if I would’ve picked them this way,” Bernhardt said after the race in which a horse he bred, raised, and trained won the big prize they all sought.
“I thought I had things figured out with my two horses at least,” Berhardt reflected. “Sometimes these races are anyone’s guess.”
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