Holy Bull

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The first time Mike Smith won a race, he took the lead and never looked back.That was a dozen years ago when Smith was 16 years old and riding for his uncle at Santa Fe Downs in New Mexico."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ulises might go down in history as the colt who spoiled Holy Bull's chances to win the Kentucky Derby.At least that's what 13 of the 15 trainers at Churchill Downs probably are hoping when they chart strategy for tomorrow's 120th running of America's most famous horse race.The only way to beat the favorite is to hope that someone challenges Holy Bull early and leaves him empty in the long stretch run, horsemen and many handicappers said yesterday at Churchill Downs.That someone is expected to be Ulises.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- "Do you find all this amazing?" someone asked Bobbie Croll yesterday morning amid the swarm of reporters and oglers in front of Holy Bull's barn.A grandmother for years, a lifelong racetracker, she smiled and shook her head slowly from side to side, as if to say: You have no idea.True enough.We weren't there when her husband, Jimmy Croll, took out his trainer's license 54 years ago and started his career at the old track at Havre de Grace, training a horse he had bought for $50.We weren't there when the newlywed Crolls rented a room in a rooming house near Pimlico, bathroom down the hall.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Jimmy Croll leaned against a wall outside Barn 41 at Churchill Downs yesterday, recalling how trainer Morris Dixon had fed Polynesian nearly a dozen ears of field corn just a few hours before the horse won the 1945 Preakness Stakes.That might be considered sort of a heavy diet these days, especially when equine athletes feast on scientifically balanced rations and are drawn like greyhounds before a race.Croll was 24 at the time, galloping a couple of sets of horses for free for "Pop" Dixon in Kennett Square, Pa. He would finish at Dixon's farm and then head off to classes in veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which he quit after a couple of years to pursue a career training thoroughbreds.

The field for the 120th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday is holding firm at 15 starters, the smallest group to compete in the race since a similar-sized field faced Sunday Silence and Easy Goer at Churchill Downs in 1989.But the race is loaded with eight jockeys, four trainers and two owners seeking repeat wins in what has been called America's most exciting two minutes in sports.Some trainers such as D. Wayne Lukas expected even fewer horses, given the presence of heavily favored Holy Bull and nearly a half-dozen California invaders -- Brocco, Strodes Creek, Valiant Nature, Soul Of The Matter and the Lukas-trained Tabasco Cat -- who boast strong credentials.

People who have conceded the 120th running of the Kentucky Derby next Saturday to Holy Bull, might want to take a second look.The horse's Dosage Index, or ratio of inherited speed to endurance based on four generations of his pedigree, shows that the 3-year-old colt is long on speed, but short on stamina.Holy Bull might get the early lead in the Derby, but he could trip on his parentage and fade.According to the modern-day Dosage formula, devised in 1981 by 51-year-old Houston chemist Steve Roman, Holy Bull has a Dosage Index of 6.0.Since 1929, only one horse, Strike the Gold in 1991, has won the Derby with a Dosage Index exceeding 4.0.The higher the number, the greater concentration of speed in a horse's pedigree.

The May 7 Kentucky Derby lost one of its top contenders yesterday that might have challenged speedy favorite Holy Bull for the early lead.Irgun, the front-running winner of the Wood Memorial and Gotham Stakes, was pulled out of the prospective lineup after he missed a scheduled workout yesterday because of a sore right front foot.The horse had popped a gravel, an abscess that occasionally forms at the top of the hard, insensitive portion of the hoof. Trainer Steve Young said he doesn't think that he can get the horse ready in time for the Derby.

Holy cow!What a thoroughbred the late Rachel Carpenter bred when she mated stallion Great Above with her mare, Sharon Brown, and came up with Holy Bull, likely favorite to win the 120th Kentucky Derby in three weeks.Holy Bull put his own exclamation point behind his name on Saturday, when he cruised to a 3 1/2 -length victory in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course and established himself as one of the most exciting Derby prospects since a horse of a similar color, the gray Spectacular Bid, came along in 1979.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Almost seven months ago to the day, Holy Bull was making his racetrack debut, a mere baby, born of undistinguished parents, running in the seventh race at Monmouth Park.Today, just seven races later, he is the 70th Blue Grass Stakes champion, the most popular 3-year-old in the world, winner of nearly $1 million and the undisputed favorite for the Kentucky Derby, which will be run May 7.Today he is insured for $1 million. He has two guards watching his stall night and day and an owner who has turned down an offer to sell him for $1.6 million.

Jimmy Croll minced few words yesterday in describing the condition of his horse, Holy Bull, going into tomorrow's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland (Ky.) Race Course."He's at the top of his game," said the 73-year-old trainer, who also owns the horse. "He's doing absolutely great."That's sad news to rival horsemen who might have hoped the horse was shopworn or tired after his awesome front-running performance a month ago in the Florida Derby. But it's good news for a sport that desperately needs a charismatic headliner to help bring it out of the doldrums.