Steppenwolfer Aims to Bring Home Derby Dream for Prime’s Low
obert Low, president of refrigerated carrier Prime Inc., said he had a good reason for shipping a recent package from Arkansas to Kentucky by air, rather than over the road.
“We didn’t want Steppenwolfer to get fatigued,” Low said. “The prep for the Kentucky Derby can be grueling.”
Steppenwolfer, a three-year-old colt Low and his wife Lawana own, arrived in Louisville “in good order,” Low told Transport Topics last week. The 132nd “Run for the Roses” on May 6 will mark the couple’s first Derby entrant.
“There are races with bigger purses, but every horse owner around the world aspires to win the Kentucky Derby. That would be a thrill beyond belief,” he said.
The Lows bought the horse for $375,000 last spring. His name refers both to 1960s musical group Steppenwolf, a favorite of the Lows, and to the horse’s mother, Wolfer.
“We feel good,” Low said about his horse’s chances. Steppenwolfer will be “somewhat of a long shot, but the horse has the pedigree to improve.”
The 11/4-mile Kentucky Derby is the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown; the Preakness is held two weeks later in Baltimore, followed by the Belmont Stakes in New York three weeks after that.
Steppenwolfer — whose father, Aptitude, finished second at the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 2000 — is a distant relative of the fabled Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Triple Crown.
Eleven horses have won all three races, the last being Affirmed in 1978. Six times since 1997, a horse has won the first two legs, only to fall short at the 11/2-mile Belmont.
Since finishing fifth in his first start last September, Steppenwolfer has had three victories, two second-place and two third-place finishes. The colt’s second-place finish at the Arkansas Derby April 15 earned him $200,000 in graded stakes earnings, the figure that determines the Kentucky Derby field, making him eligible for the race.
Listed by the Daily Racing Form last week at 30-1, Steppenwolfer has finished behind Lawyer Ron, among the Derby favorites, in each of his last three races.
Low’s company, Prime, based in Springfield, Mo., ranks No. 38 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. It is the largest refrigerated hauler on the list.
Low founded the company in 1970 with one dump truck in Urbana, Mo. He relocated to Springfield in 1980, and after filing for bankruptcy protection in 1985, Prime has recorded growth each year since and topped $500 million in revenue last year.
The Lows’ horse trainer, New York-based Danny Peitz, said Low rarely speaks to him about trucking — most of their conversation revolves around horses.
Peitz said from their first conversation, Low expressed his desire to win the Kentucky Derby. Peitz credited Low for “staying with a game plan” of both purchasing and breeding horses.
The Lows, who bought their first horse in 1995, own Primatara Farm in Springfield with more than 15 broodmares — female horses used for breeding.
Peitz recalled telling Low that horse-racing success takes more than money — it also takes luck.
“He said he had both, but my response was that ‘your luck is going to be tested in this game.’ He has made some good buys and really has been pretty lucky in a very short time,” Peitz said.
Low noted his luck has extended well beyond horses or trucks over the past year.
In August, his Palace Casino Resort and Hotel in Biloxi, Miss., was damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but all 1,004 employees survived. The casino reopened on New Year’s Eve.
This story appears in the May 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
