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.
KENTUCKY DERBY
Saturday, 6:04 p.m. post
TV: Chs. 11, 4
