WASHINGTON - In Saturday's Kentucky Derby, one of three scenarios is likely to unfold:
* Street Sense will win by duplicating the performance he delivered last fall to run away with the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and become the champion of his generation.
* Curlin, undefeated and untested in three career starts, will overcome his lack of experience and establish himself as a brilliant 3-year-old star.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - "You know what I don't like about the press at the Derby?"
Carl Nafzger was talking, every word hopping along in his classic Texan twang.
"The only thing I don't like," he said, "is they don't show up Sunday morning."
They do if you win, to which Nafzger can testify firsthand, since he is one of only three trainers competing in the 133rd Kentucky Derby on Saturday who knows what it feels like to wake up Sunday morning still basking in that Derby winner's glow.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At the end of last year, I filled out my Eclipse Award ballot for the 2-year-old championship as follows: 1-Street Sense, 2-Nobiz Like Shobiz, 3-Circular Quay. More than four months later, the same three horses in the same order are my 1-2-3 selections for the Kentucky Derby.
This happened by coincidence rather than design, the product of a thoroughly undistinguished season of Derby preps in which nobody ran a particularly fast or inspiring race or took the giant step forward that
WASHINGTON - Of the 20 horses in the Kentucky Derby, only one possesses a record suggesting that he may be a full-fledged Thoroughbred star. Curlin has made three starts in his career, winning them by a combined total of more than 28 lengths. When he overpowered his rivals in the Arkansas Derby, he instantly became the favorite for Saturday's race.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Do I have a deal for you! Two, actually, to fit your budget.
If you have $500 million lying around unused, I can get you in the racing business big time, overnight.
Or for $600 Canadian, I can get you dealing drugs in Ontario.
First, my high-end special.
Late Sunday night, after months of meandering, weeks of weary debate, and days of deliberation in a conference committee, and with only hours and minutes left before the Indiana legislature adjourned, the solons agreed to save Hoosier horse racing, Thoroughbred and harness.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hats off to Yum! Brands for its decision to ditch the trans fat oils when cooking up those Kentucky Fried Chicken wings and Taco Bell chalupas. Arteries everywhere are grateful.
And good for Churchill Downs in getting the Louisville police to relax the Homeland Security codes enough to allow fans attending Saturday's 133rd Kentucky Derby to bring in their own bottles of sunscreen, on what figures to be a blistering day.
NEW YORK - The dispute that erupted this week between TrackNet Media and YouBet may have the ring of one of those familiar dust-ups that always seems to happen a week or so before the Kentucky Derby, when the cudgel of access to betting on the nation's most famous race is wielded to get someone to pay a higher price for a simulcast signal. The game of chicken usually goes on until about a day or two before the big race, when a compromise is struck just in time to start betting the big race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When advised that he might be honored with an introduction to the queen, should he be fortunate enough to win Saturday's Kentucky Derby with Great Hunter, Liquidity, or Cobalt Blue, trainer Doug O'Neill wondered aloud if a high five would be appropriate, then reflected upon his most recent royal encounter.
"From what I saw in the movie, and I mean no disrespect, the queen seems like a very stern person," said O'Neill as he waited for Liquidity to tack up and gallop.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Go ahead and enjoy Gold Rush Day on Sunday at Hollywood Park, and by all means get revved up for Derby week at Churchill Downs. But whatever you do, save an hour or set the TiVo Sunday afternoon and capture the NBC Sports documentary, "Barbaro: A Nation's Horse."