Tom Conway had a gut feeling about Stately Victor.
Even as the gangly 3-year-old kept posting a string of disappointing finishes in nondescript allowance races this spring, Conway would shrug his shoulders, trusting in trainer Mike Maker's advice that the bay colt was simply a late bloomer.
When the opportunity came to enter the horse in the Blue Grass Stakes - one of the final prep races for the Kentucky Derby - Conway took a chance, something decidedly out of character for the reserved 72-year-old lawyer who has spent the last three decades dabbling in the game.
Call it fate. Call it an upset. Call it karma evening things out.
When Stately Victor stunned the field at Keeneland as a 40-1 long shot to claim a spot in the Run for the Roses, the only one who wasn't surprised was Conway.
Maybe it's because in his mind Conway wasn't taking a chance, he was simply paying homage.
Stately Victor is named after an eternal optimist, after all.
Victor Perrone was the loud one, the entertainer, all blonde hair and arms and legs, so skinny ``he could walk through a harp and never touch a string,'' as his older brother Tom put it.
Jack Conway, Tom Conway's son, was the quiet one. The contemplative yin to Perrone's winsome yang.
The two were inseparable from the day they met in grade school. It wasn't uncommon for Perrone to spend two or three nights a week at Conway's house - if only to escape the crowd at his own, where he was the ninth of 10 children.
It got to the point where Conway didn't even have to be home for Perrone to stop by. Perrone would happily spend the afternoon at the Conways talking to Tom Conway about everything from law school to horses to basketball.
``That's just how Vic was,'' Jack Conway said. ``Once you met him, you never forgot him.''
The Conways never have, not in the nearly 18 years since Perrone died at age 23 in a car accident.
Tom Conway made an anonymous donation to help pay for the funeral. Jack Conway and Perrone's classmates at St. Xavier High spearhead a charity golf tournament that helps fund a scholarship in Perrone's name, with Tom Conway quietly picking up the check for a fundraising dinner.
The scholarship comes with one condition: the winner must write a letter to Perrone's mother, Jean.
It's one way to keep the connection between mother and son alive, a chance for the Conways and others to honor a classmate who was much more than that.
``The thing I've learned is you don't stop being someone's friend,'' said Jack Conway, Kentucky's Attorney General and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.
It's why Jack Conway was hardly surprised when his father approached him last spring with a potential name for the promising 2-year-old colt they purchased for $250,000.
``He said, 'I think I've a good one, I want to name it after Victor,''' Jack Conway said.
Naming a horse after someone he cared about isn't unusual for Tom Conway. Yet most of the other horses have been close relatives.
The decision to name one after Perrone caught his family - many of whom remain in contact with the Conways - by surprise.
``I don't get touched that much, but it really took me back,'' said Tom Perrone, who was six years older than Victor. ``This isn't some $20,000 claimer we have here. It says something about the Conways' loyalty.''
In both their friend and their horse.
The Conways had modest expectations for Stately Victor. When they bought him the Derby remained what it's been since the time Tom Conway ordered his son to memorize both the winning horses and their jockeys as a child: a dream.
``I think my father always had a dream of running a horse in the Derby,'' Jack Conway said. ``Whenever the owners would make that walk over to the paddock, we'd find a spot in the grandstand and watch.''
Now they'll be taking that iconic walk from the backside, with Perrone's family waiting near the owner's box.
Ask Tom Perrone what he thinks his brother would have worn to the Derby, and he just laughs.
``He'd probably dress up like the jockeys to get a laugh,'' he said.
It's what he always did. Call it the product of growing up in a household filled with older brothers who lived for nothing more than to give little Victor a hard time.
Jack Conway remembers wondering why Victor's underwear was so raggedy when they were kids. Turns out, his brothers would hang him by his briefs from the nearest coat hook when he got a little out of hand.
``They never got me, I was too fast,'' Jack Conway said with a laugh.
The Conways hope Stately Victor is just as quick on Saturday.
He'll be among the longest shots on the board behind likely favorite Lookin At Lucky, though it hardly matters. A year ago, Mine That Bird pulled off an upset for the ages when he roared through the slop.
Six weeks ago, Stately Victor was an underachieving 3-year-old. Now he's in the Derby. Anything is possible.
``I never quit believing in this horse,'' Maker said.
Neither did Perrone's family. Maybe because they feel the horse and his namesake had more in common than a name.
Victor Perrone, for all of his charm, was also a grinder. He was putting himself through law school at the University of Louisville at the time of his death, doing everything from running carts at a golf course to manning a rental car counter to make ends meet between classes.
It wasn't easy. Yet Victor never complained.
``He didn't have a bad day,'' said Lou Ann Fenwick, Perrone's older sister. ``He may have had worries, financial stresses and all that. It never bothered him.''
That attitude won over Tom Conway, one that has stuck with him through the years.
Tom Perrone was in Tom Conway's law office a few weeks ago for work. Tom Conway did what he's always done. He asked tough questions. He listened. He was direct.
As they were walking out, Tom Conway asked if he had another minute and pulled him aside.
``It was a metamorphosis, he started walking different,'' Tom Perrone said. ``He showed me a picture in his office of my little brother sitting on a bookcase 25 years ago. Then he pulled out a picture of Stately Victor and said 'I want you to have it.'''
It's just one more tribute to a friendship that has only grown stronger.
``Stories like this make the Derby,'' Jack Conway said. ``I'm happy for my dad, who dreamed of having a horse in the race and I'm happy for Victor. His name lives on and will live on.''
