Funk feared the man she had come to love was about to reveal a dark secret that would ruin their relationship.
"I don't read and write very well," he said. "I need your help."
"Oh, my God," Funk replied. "If that's all there is, we can work with that."
Borel, 42, an eighth-grade dropout, still stumbles over words and grapples with a pen. But he reads half-ton Thoroughbreds so well that he will be the hard-charging main attraction at Saturday's
"He's like the
Two weeks ago, Borel was at the controls when Mine That Bird, a 50-1 long shot, dropped almost 30 lengths behind the field in the Kentucky Derby before launching a breathtaking last-to-first run.
Now, in a sign of how far the jockey from rural
May 1, the day before the Derby, Borel rode her to a 20¼-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks, a race for fillies. Borel said afterward that the filly was faster than any of the colts in the Derby field, and the oddsmaker agrees. She is an 8-5 favorite to beat the boys at
She could become the fifth filly to win the middle jewel of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, joining Flocarline (1903), Whimsical (1906),
"I worked my whole life, and it's finally come around to a peak right now," says Borel, who first competed in match races when he was 8. "When your confidence is built up, you think you can do tricks."
Borel, born to French-speaking Cajun parents who raised sugar cane and corn, has formed an unbeatable team so far with Rachel Alexandra.
The Oaks marked their fifth consecutive victory in stakes competition since they joined forces Nov. 29 and gave her seven wins in 10 starts for earnings of $958,354. Borel is the seventh jockey to sweep the Oaks and Derby in the same year and the first since
Cecil treasures a photo in which tiny Calvin, wearing a diaper, is sitting atop a horse. Calvin, the youngest of five boys born to the late Ella and Clovis, still regularly cleans stalls for Cecil.
"We might not have much book sense," Cecil says, "but when it comes to horses, we've got a lot of sense."
Calvin is renowned for his work ethic.
The day after he pulled the second-biggest upset in Derby history with Mine That Bird, he returned to
It was the same when he brought home the roses for the first time with a masterful ride aboard Street Sense in 2007.
In each case, he maintained his schedule at Churchill Downs despite heavy off-track demands.
Many jockeys do not first see their horses until minutes before a race. Borel wakes up early every morning to visit them and learn their nuances.
"I get on all my horses and work them. Every horse is not the same, sir," Borel says. "Every horse has a different key to him. You've got to get on them in the morning and find the key."
Returning to Rachel
The winner of more than 4,500 races calls Rachel Alexandra "the best horse I've ever ridden." Her Oaks romp was extraordinary in that Borel never prompted her for speed. He says he has yet to ask for her most powerful stride.
Rachel Alexandra was not nominated to the Triple Crown races by her previous owners, who thought it best that her competition be limited to fillies.
Those aspirations changed last week when Jess
Jackson briefly debated a change of riders before sticking with Borel.
"It came down to the fact that he knows and loves this horse, that he knows how to get the most from her and he knows how to win," Jackson said in a statement.
"We think this is a perfect match of rider and horse."
As NBC analyst
"There would have been a public outcry if (Borel) had been removed," said the retired Hall of Fame jockey, even though such a decision would have resulted in Borel remaining atop Mine That Bird, the Derby winner.
Borel, whose horses earned $4,844,522 in purse money last year, said immediately after the Derby that he would choose Rachel Alexandra over Mine That Bird if a conflict arose.
Chip Woolley, trainer of Mine That Bird, says he understood that it was just business.
The winner's share in the $1.1 million Preakness will be $600,000; the winning rider earns 10% of that.
At the Derby, Mine That Bird was awarded $1.44 million of the $2.2 million purse, meaning Borel earned about $144,000 for the victory.
"I wish him the best," Woolley says, "because we wouldn't be here without him."
He hired veteran Mike Smith to ride a Derby champion that still has much to prove.
'He's basically a hillbilly'
Borel is beloved in racetrack circles, but he has not always been appreciated as a man who makes up in substance what he lacks in style.
"He's respected by everybody, but he's basically a hillbilly," says Ron
After a talented 3-year-old Thoroughbred named
That changed when Anderson recommended him to Woolley, never imagining that Borel would ride Mine That Bird to victory in the Derby while Pioneerof
Borel races primarily in Kentucky, with a winter stop at Oaklawn Park in
"The fact that he doesn't venture out more probably works against him," Anderson says. "But there's a comfort level there."
Hissam, whose work in lining up quality mounts is vital, watches over Borel like a son. Hissam delights in their accomplishments.
"There's enough money, enough glory, enough whatever you want to call it," he says. "We're not trying to take it all. We don't want it all."
Funk, who became engaged to Borel seven years ago, says they have disagreements about whether he should try to break out of his comfort zone.
"All I ever heard him talk about is having a decent shot to win the Derby," she says. "
"There are certain things you have to give up to be Garrett Gomez, but (Borel) wants to go fishing (after the races) at Oaklawn Park."
Borel is charming in his simplicity. He shed tears of joy after the Derby as he reflected on what his success would have meant to his late parents. He pointed to the heavens as a way of remembering them.
When he and Funk were invited to the
Not at all.
However ungrammatical his speech might have been, however uninterested he might be in reading anything beyond the past performances of horses, Borel was at ease as he talked with dignitaries.
That included an extended conversation with
The jockey told him he went by instinct more than anything else.
Borel credits much of his recent success to Funk, saying the two of them "never have a bad day."
She has advised the 5-5, 110-pound rider on his dietary habits, helping him to maintain his strength while staying light. She provides him with a verbal financial report, detailing his earnings and expenses, every few months.
He also points to lessons he learned from
"Mr. Carl always told me, 'When you ride for me in these big races, just take what they give you. You kind of put them in the right position, but let the horse tell you when he's ready to go.' "
Borel was patient and daring in a ride aboard Mine That Bird that still has fans buzzing.
"I don't know if anybody else would have won on him," Stevens says.
Borel was as cool as could be in allowing Mine That Bird to drop far behind before rallying.
The improbable triumph by a former $9,500 purchase who was winless in two starts at New
That allowed Mine That Bird and Borel to streak up the rail to a 6¾-length margin — largest in the Derby since Assault's 8-length win in 1946 — and reminded everyone of Borel's racetrack moniker:
Bo-rail.
Although he was involved in a horrific accident when he was thrown into a light post as an apprentice rider in
In the Preakness, Borel probably will have Rachel Alexandra on or close to the lead because she has a naturally fast cruising speed.
The trick will be to make sure she does not try to do too much too soon so that she produces a finishing kick at the end of the 13/16-mile contest.
The challenge of asking a filly to win the Preakness is so immense that only three others have tried it since 1939. Derby champions Genuine Risk (1980) and Winning Colors (1988), both fillies, placed second and third, respectively, in the Preakness.
Excellent Meeting, a filly that finished fifth in the Derby in 1999, never made it to the finish line at Pimlico. Her cause became so hopeless that jockey
As for Borel's chances of winning the Preakness with Rachel Alexandra, Funk says, "Nobody is going to stop this man from getting what he wants. And that's crossing the finish line first."
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