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Musket Man ready to fire at Kentucky Derby

Trainer: I don't believe in second - second ain't good enough

By
Declan O'Kelly,
Published Friday, April 24, 2009, 4:04 PM
Updated Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 12:14 PM

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Musket Man


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“Second sucks. I don’t believe in second. Second ain’t good enough.  I know it sounds crazy but if you settle for second in this game  you won’t survive."

So says Derek Ryan, the Irish trainer of Musket Man, one of the fancied horses in May 2nd's 135th Kentucky Derby.

This year Ryan burst onto the big time with Musket Man, who won both the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and the Illinois Derby (G2). The horse has won five of his six races and taken in a cool $572,600 along the way. 

Ryan says he should be 6 for 6 but he “was bashed around a bit" in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February.

“Everyone says he has beaten nothing, but he has beaten everything he has had to beat. As they say, keep yourself in good company and your horse in bad and you’ll be alright."

Daniel Centeno rode Musket Man to win at Tampa, but shortly after, Ryan and the horse’s owners (Eric Fein and Vic Carlson) decided to give Eibar Coa the ride.

“We switched after the Tampa Derby. He (Eibar) has a lot more experience in these races, and I have had a lot of success with him and so has the owner.  He’s ridden in the Derby three times, and we’ve gone with the more experienced rider with whom we have had a lot of success with.”

Ryan, a Thurles native, is a 40-something trainer who made his move to the States in 1989. “I was always a bit of a traveler, and I always wanted to come to the States. After that I had planned to go to Australia, but I never left the States and have been here ever since.”

Before he crossed the Atlantic, he worked at the Curragh, with Tommy Stack, and also worked in England, France and Germany.

Once stateside, Ryan worked for whomever needed his services.  In 1996 he decided to branch out for himself and started Derek Ryan Stables.  One of his first mainstream successes was Emergency Status, who won the Jersey Derby (G3) in 2002.

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See more: Sports , Horse Racing , Kentucky Derby , Musket Man , Derek Ryan
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