Plenty of nags in this Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The awful truth about the Kentucky Derby, the only race America cares about, is that it doesn’t take four quick legs to earn a place in the starting gate. The favorite, Brother Derek, hasn’t lost a race this year. The second choice, Barbaro, has never lost. Next in line is Lawyer Ron, who is undefeated in Arkansas.

But most of the next 17, the track oddsmaker seems to think, are flat tires waiting to happen. His morning line had them going off at anywhere from 20-1 to 50-1. He can go higher this year, a lot higher, but why bruise the feelings of the owners?

The owners are thrilled to be here, the jockeys are glad to have a ride and the horse has no idea the next two minutes he runs could make him Mr. Right for the rest of his life. It’s the trainers, the zipper-jacket guys, who have the hardest jobs. They’d like to win, but what they really need is for the owner to come back with the same willing wallet next year, the same serious case of Derby Fever.

Steve Asmussen trains five 3-year-olds for Mike McCarty and two of them, Private Vow and Storm Treasure, are running in this 132nd Derby. “I planned on having all five in the race,” McCarty said. He’s kidding. The 50-1 shots are always great kidders.

The owner made his money in construction, and usually gave some back when he visited the track. Six years ago, his employees’ Christmas present to the boss was a trip to the horse sales at Keeneland.

McCarty couldn’t resist. “I knew nothing about Keeneland, but I wasn’t going as an observer,” he said. He went, and he spent. “I stuck my toe in the water. Pretty deep,” he said

That first plunge, a $265,000 colt, didn’t get him close to a nice seat for the Derby. McCarty is here now, and it doesn’t bother him, not even a little, that both of his horses are in the 50-1 group. “It’s the most thrilling thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

For Asmussen, there’s almost a new thrill every day. If he ran fewer horses he’d still be too busy. He has a stable here, in New York, Texas, Louisiana and Chicago. He won 474 races last year, and set the single-season record with 555 the year before.

To win that many, you have to start a lot – 2,227 last year – and lose a lot.

“Everybody out here is trying to be your friend. I have a different approach,” he said.

He’s hard on jockeys, for instance, and not just because they’re smaller. “Everybody wants to be politically correct, but I say what you’re thinking.”

Private Vow, 4 for 6 as a 2-year-old, didn’t get back to the races until March. He finished third in the Arkansas Derby and Asmussen was thinking Preakness. But the colt worked so well here, the trainer convinced himself, “If he’s ever gonna win at a mile-and-a-quarter he’ll do it now.”

Storm Treasure earned his Derby chance in the Blue Grass three weeks ago. He went off at 65-1 and finished second, 12 lengths behind the winner. He was sixth, 17 lengths away in his previous start. Makes you think 50-1 is not the bargain it seems.

So let’s try to find one. Let’s try Steppenwolfer, who ran in the money in his last three, but couldn’t get past Lawyer Ron in any of them. Lawyer Ron is 4-1 in the morning line and Steppenwolfer, who almost caught him last time, is here at 30-1. That was the Arkansas Derby, when Steppenwolfer ran into traffic making his usual late run.

“I don’t say it cost us the race – we’ve looked at Lawyer Ron’s butt for two months – but we woulda been closer, a length away or less,” said trainer Dan Pietz.

What could change in the Derby is that Lawyer Ron won’t have the same comfortable pace he enjoyed in Arkansas. There’s so much quality speed in the Derby, “I’d be stressed if had a speed horse,” Pietz said. “As fast as they go early, I expect a lot of them to be backing up. If we’re not hung out seven, eight wide turning for home, or two or three stop in front of him, I’m confident he’ll run his race. I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t.”

Last year’s Derby winner, Giacomo, hit the wire at a shocking 50-1, and the last horse he passed was a 71-1 shot. Giacomo, still racing, hasn’t won since. But his trainer, John Shirreffs, is trying again today with A.P. Warrior, a 12-1 shot. The price seems hardly worth it.