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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's tough to pick a horse that suits your personality, especially before the Kentucky Derby is even run.
We're still getting to know them. We're hoping, as we do every year as the Triple Crown season is set to unfold, that one might emerge with the heart of Secretariat. Or the Everyman's charm of Smarty Jones. Or the fighting spirit of Barbaro.
But one thing you can do at the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday is find a trainer who speaks to your rooting interests. Maybe you want a proven, cutthroat winner who is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure a payout. Or perhaps you prefer an underdog who has come close, never seen the winner's circle, but is still on the verge of a breakthrough. Maybe you're even the sentimental type, interested in backing a long shot for reasons beyond financial.
The beauty of the wide-open field this year is that there is probably a trainer out there for you.
If you're rooting for a good story, Tom McCarthy is probably your man. The 75-year-old Louisville native - trainer and owner of General Quarters - has never had a horse in the Derby. In fact, he spent most of his life as a school teacher, having walked away from his dream to make sure he could support his family with a steady paycheck. But from afar he remained in love with the sport of kings. He has attended the Derby since the early 1950s as a fan, but he was unable to really break back into the game until recently, when he snagged General Quarters in a claiming race for $20,000. Just don't tell him his only horse, a 20-1 wager, is of humble beginnings. General Quarters proved he deserved to be here with an April victory in the Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland.
"This is one of the best-bred horses in the Derby if you'll just look at his bbreeding," said McCarthy, who has a gruff voice and a salt-and-pepper mustache. "I mean this - he - I might have been lucky enough to get him for $20,000, but this horse is impeccably bred."
Just don't expect him to get caught up enjoying the moment too much. Instead of embracing his role as the feel-good long shot this week, McCarthy has been all business. He believes he's here to win.
"I'll be sitting right there in that tack room and be with my horse all day," he said. "I don't get into all that other stuff. We're here to do a job, and [General Quarters] is the only person I need to be with on race day."
If you want a to see a deserving, hard-earned, but realistic breakthrough, then maybe Todd Pletcher is your guy. Pletcher, a regal-looking, silver-haired 41-year old who looks a lot like actor John Slattery of the critically acclaimed series Mad Men, has won four consecutive Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Trainer of the Year. But he has never won a Derby, going 0-for-21, a historic streak he desperately wants to end this year with one of his three horses: Advice, Join in the Dance and Dunkirk. He thinks Dunkirk, who comes in with 4-to-1 odds, gives him his best chance ever.
"We couldn't be more pleased with the way things have gone as he's come up to this race," Pletcher said. "Everything has fallen into place."
There's also Bob Baffert, the newly inducted Hall of Fame trainer and three-time Derby winner. To some, he's a charming 56-year-old who gets results and isn't afraid to speak his mind. To others, he's a cocky Californian with a thorny demeanor who doesn't work hard enough and wins because he trains the most expensive horses. Baffert, who saddles Pioneerof the Nile, doesn't care what you think.
"I'm still trying to win that Triple Crown," he said.
There is even someone if you like controversy, and he just so happens to be training the favorite, I Want Revenge. Trainer Jeff Mullins doesn't seem to mind playing the bad guy, and it's a role he has been tagged with thanks to several medical violations. The day after the Derby, he'll begin serving a seven-day suspension for administering an over-the-counter medication to one of his horses, which can mask pain and hide injuries. Baffert even joked to Mullins that he needs to ditch his cowboy hat because it's too easy to cast him as the villain and it makes owners with money uncomfortable.
Mullins' response?
"If I win, maybe I can start coming to work at 8 o'clock and barking orders into a walkie-talkie," Mullins said.
The wild card in all this might be the track. California race courses recently ditched dirt tracks in favor of synthetic tracks, so no one knows exactly how those horses will react to a potential wet day at Churchill Downs. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, four-time winner of the Derby, said he likes Desert Party, Pioneerof the Nile and I Want Revenge but also believes anything can happen.
"The only thing that confusing about it are those horses coming from different areas with synthetic surfaces," Lukas said. "It's hard to evaluate how good they are. Some of them could adapt to this beautifully and others bomb, so it makes it a nightmare to handicap. There could be a 50- or 60-dollar payoff pretty easy."
Note: Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer and Fells Point resident Michael Phelps will attend the Derby.
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