On Derby Sunday on July 24th, Dorota Kałuba, the best trainer in the history of Warsaw’s Służewiec racetrack (her horses have won the Thoroughbred Derby six times and the Arabian Derby five times), starred in a very uncomfortable role. The trained by her Achilles (Amarant – Alpesa/Pesal), bred by Mariola and Stanisław Wiśniewski, could’ve thwarted the plans of the young trainer from Janów Podlaski, Daria Gutowska, who is Kałuba’s graduate. A generally expected confrontation of the master and the student (the Achilles-Sabir quinella was top play) added an extra flavor to the 2011 Derby race.
And that’s precisely what happened. Fighting side by side over the final 100 m were only Sabir (Espadero – Salsa/Wojsław) and Achilles. The ridden by Siergiej Wasiutow son of a Derby winner and grandson of a reserve Derby winner ultimately defeated his rival – bearing equal athletic talent, but with an inferior racing pedigree – by one length.
Janów Podlaski’s Director Marek Trela displayed no emotions during the race. It was only when Wasiutow raised his hand in a gesture of triumph right before the wire that he let out a sigh of relief. “Phew, we made it. We also had a secret weapon up our sleeve in the shape of El Far
(Ekstern – El Fatha/Entyk) in case Sabir did not live up to the role of favorite. He also did very well. It was him that about 200 m before the finish line Achilles had to fight with first. Maybe that cost him so much effort that he could not muster any more to fend off Sabir’s attack? I’m very happy that we won, because otherwise our ambitious Daria would be deeply affected by the defeat”.
„During my studies I was interested in breeding horses of various breeds. I wrote my master’s thesis on Arabian reproduction, but training them for racing was something completely new to me”, said the overjoyed trainer Daria Gutowska. “If not for the care and advice of Dorota Kałuba I wouldn’t have been able to achieve it all. She taught me everything from scratch. All I could do was ride horses. As a teenager I was involved in a racing stable at Służewiec for half a year, but no love for racing resulted from it. Now it is completely different. It’s hard not to like racing, especially when you win the Derby!”
