Triple Crown-winning horse has Minnesota link

All the interest in American Pharoah winning the Triple Crown on Saturday brought back memories of a three-hour luncheon I had at Edina's Interlachen Country Club with George Steinbrenner and a relative of Bloomington resident Frances Genter, whose horse Unbridled won the 1990 Kentucky Derby.

I had gotten a phone call from Steinbrenner, who was in town with the Yankees, and he wanted a ride to Interlachen, where he was going to have lunch with a gentleman to talk horse racing. His family owns a horse farm in Ocala, Fla., and it was of more interest to George and his family than the Yankees.

And when I picked my friend up later, he was surprised at my ignorance regarding the fact that a number of people involved with top-level horse racing lived in the Twin Cities.

Sunday, in a conversation with Randy Sampson, the president and CEO of Canterbury Park, he pointed out an interesting connection between American Pharoah, the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, and Genter, the late, great Minneapolis horse owner.

"Francis Genter, she had Unbridled, who is, I don't know, the grandfather or great-grandfather of American Pharoah," Sampson said. "So [Unbridled] actually ran at Canterbury as a 2-year-old and then won the Derby and the Breeder's Cup [in 1990] and is now the direct male lineage to our new Triple Crown winner American Pharoah."

According to the Thoroughbred Pedigree Query, the lineage goes like this: Unbridled was the father to Empire Maker, who won the Belmont Stakes in 2003. Empire Maker bred Pioneerof The Nile, who finished second at the Kentucky Derby in 2009 and bred American Pharoah.

Genter was perhaps the most famous horse owner from Minnesota, but there were several more Sampson reported, many of whom had horses race in big events and at tracks all over the country.

"There has been lots over the years; Jim Binger, Wheelock Whitney of course owned horses, those two were both members of the Jockey Club in New York, which is a real elite group," Sampson said. "We had Henry Pabst, who is a South St. Paul businessman that had some very nice horses. Vern Heath has had some very nice horses running in some of the top races around the country. There have been lots of them, Bob Lothenbach has some horses here and he is currently very active in horse racing and has some great horses running all around the country. There is still lots of interest and always has been from the people around Minnesota in horse racing."

Sampson said interest in Minnesota horse racing continued to grow, and there is hope that a great horse can come from here.

Incidentally, I had gotten Steinbrenner interested in getting involved in Minnesota racing on two occasions.

The first was when Canterbury opened in 1985 under the ownership of Brooks Fields and was called Canterbury Downs. Steinbrenner applied for a racing license, and he and his wife, Elizabeth, were going to bring a number of horses here. But the application was denied when the word got out that he had a felony conviction for conspiring to violate federal election laws stemming from Richard Nixon's re-election campaign in 1974.

In January 1989, Steinbrenner received a pardon from Ronald Reagan, and later that year he applied to purchase Canterbury Downs. He ultimately decided not to get involved, though the state of Minnesota would have allowed it because his conviction had been wiped clean.

Still Steinbrenner, who fielded six Kentucky Derby horses over his lifetime, was 100 percent right about the local interest in horse racing. On a later date he spoke at the Twin Cities Dunkers, a group of regional business leaders, and the Yankees were not the main topic of conversation. The meeting, which usually ends at 8:30 a.m., ended an hour late with the majority of questions being about the Kentucky Derby, and horse racing in general.

Many of the people with the Gophers athletic department who would be involved in using the new facilities the school is raising money for were convinced the Board of Regents would sign off on a plan pushed by athletic director Norwood Teague at a meeting next week.

Teague's plan called for starting construction this fall using the $70-plus million already raised, continuing to raise money while the construction was going on, and the additional $40-$50 million needed would be acquired by the athletic department by taking a mortgage of some $20 million and also borrowing $20 million from the administration, which had indicated the money would be available.

What makes me believe that Teague couldn't sell the plan is the fact he has not been available to comment on the action of the Regents.

In a May 10 column, I wrote out those financial details above after Teague had laid out his plan.

I thought it was a very good plan, and it's unfortunate the Regents and no doubt the administration wouldn't buy it. The athletic department earned $1.9 million last year, and Teague thought he could pay back that $20 million loan from the university over a period of time.

• Sports Illustrated's Peter King recently revealed his preseason NFL rankings and had the Vikings at No. 6 in the league. He published the list just before Adrian Peterson returned, writing: "This is reliant on so many things. Adrian Peterson showing up number one. But finding a consistent pass-rush is key too, as is the continued maturity of Teddy Bridgewater. I pick the Vikes here because if you ask me for one rising team if two or three vital things go right, I'm picking Minnesota." King had Baltimore, Seattle, Green Bay, Kansas City and New England ranked 1-5.

• The fact that the Twins sent struggling shortstop Danny Santana to Class AAA Rochester after Sunday's 2-0 victory over Milwaukee doesn't mean they have any thought of recalling Jorge Polanco, the outstanding shortstop at Class AA Chattanooga, because General Manager Terry Ryan said he didn't think the 21-year-old is ready to play in the major leagues. Eduardo Escobar or Eduardo Nunez will get to play at shortstop while Kennys Vargas returns to the big-league club.

• Sunday, Jerry Kill and the Gophers football coaching staff had 130 high school senior players at a camp on campus. This group was expected to include highly recruited Eden Prairie player J.D. Spielman.

• One of the athletic events that does a good job of distributing its earnings is the Herb Brooks Golf Classic, which this year will be held Friday at Victory Links Golf Course in Blaine.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com