KENTUCKY DERBY FIELD AT A GLANCE

Times staff writer Bill Christine analyzes the 13 horses entered in today’s race, in post-position order:

1. Crypto Star

Starts: 6 1st: 4 2nd: 1 3rd: 1 Purses: $592,030

His owners, Darrell and Evelyn Yates, turned down a $3-million bid for their colt just before he won the Arkansas Derby. “We’ve got enough for groceries the rest of our lives,” said Darrell Yates, who builds bridges and highways. “So what’s the point?” Trainer Wayne Catalano is happy the sale didn’t go through. Catalano, 41, might be a Derby newcomer, but his jockey, Pat Day, won the Derby with Lil E. Tee in 1992 and has won more races than anybody else at Churchill Downs.

2. Phantom On Tour

Starts: 8 1st: 5 2nd: 3 3rd: 0 Purses: $295,605

Owner W. Cal Partee and trainer Lynn Whiting are seeking an encore to their victory here with Lil E. Tee. Phantom On Tour is an Ohio-bred and only one of those--Wintergreen in 1909--has won the Derby. With Larry Melancon aboard, Phantom On Tour led the Arkansas Derby by 3 1/2 lengths with an eighth of a mile to go but couldn’t hold off Crypto Star and lost by half a length. Jerry Bailey, who has won two of the last four Derbies, with Sea Hero and Grindstone, will ride the colt for the first time.

3. Concerto

Starts: 10 1st: 7 2nd: 1 3rd: 2 Purses: $760,234

When owner-breeder George Steinbrenner sent this colt to trainer John J. Tammaro III as a 2-year-old, the farm had three other horses that were considered better contenders for the classics. But all of them--including Acceptable, injured in April--fell by the wayside and Concerto has gone on a five-race streak. But he hasn’t been through the wars, as have most of the Derby horses, having to run hard only in the Jim Beam Stakes. Jockey Carlos Marquez, 30, has never ridden in the Derby.

4. Captain Bodgit

Starts: 10 1st: 7 2nd: 0 3rd: 3 Purses: $769,749

He’s trying to become the first horse to win the Derby after also taking the Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial. He has a come-from-behind style, the kind that leads to traffic trouble in many Derbies, but at least there’s a relatively small field this year. “You never know,” trainer Gary Capuano said. “I’ve seen horses get in trouble in five-horse fields.” Jockey Alex Solis is winless in six Derbies and finished 11th in 1986 with favored Snow Chief.

5. Silver Charm

Starts: 6 1st: 3 2nd: 3 3rd: 0 Purses: $444,150

A second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby has never won the Kentucky Derby. Silver Charm lost to Free House by only a head after battling Sharp Cat through the first mile at Santa Anita. “Once you win one [Kentucky] Derby, you want more,” said jockey Gary Stevens, who has won two. Instead of being glad that Sharp Cat ran in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, Stevens wishes she were running today. “She would have guaranteed a legitimate pace,” he said.

6. Celtic Warrior

Starts: 11 1st: 2 2nd: 4 3rd: 0 Purses: $132,317

The only gelding in the field, trainer Danny Hutt’s horse hated Santa Anita this winter, running ninth and last in the San Vicente, eighth in the San Rafael. But he finished second to Concerto at Churchill Downs at the end of his 2-year-old season and his fourth in the Blue Grass was enough encouragement for Hutt, who also owns one-third of Celtic Warrior, purchased after one start for $35,000. In October, the horse could have been claimed for $50,000.

7. Pulpit

Starts: 5 1st: 4 2nd: 1 3rd: 0 Purses: $683,200

But for his 2 1/2-length defeat by Captain Bodgit in the Florida Derby, Pulpit would be undefeated. His sire, A.P. Indy, was scratched on the morning of the 1992 Derby because of a cracked hoof, but still was voted horse of the year. Pulpit’s grandsire, Seattle Slew, swept the 1977 Triple Crown, and his dam’s sire, Mr. Prospector, is one of breeding’s great stallions. Unraced last year because of a stress fracture, Pulpit has been busy this year. The Derby will be his sixth race in less than four months.

8. Hello

Starts: 11 1st: 5 2nd: 2 3rd: 2 Purses: $453,419

Ron McAnally, a Hall of Fame trainer, has had miserable luck in the Derby. He has run 10 horses, with no finish better than a pair of fourths. Mike Smith took this mount because of Chris McCarron’s shoulder injury. Uncharacteristic of a horse whose career began in Europe, Hello had gate problems before two third-place finishes at Santa Anita.

9. Jack Flash

Starts: 11 1st: 2 2nd: 3 3rd: 2 Purses: $211,100

The blood of Northern Dancer and Spectacular Bid runs through this colt, yet it took him five races to break his maiden and since then he has been fifth, fourth and second in three stakes starts. The last outing was a second behind Concerto in the Jim Beam.

10. Shammy Davis

Starts: 9 1st: 3 2nd: 1 3rd: 1 Purses: $169,013

Jack Flash and this Pennsylvania-bred colt give trainer Nick Zito two shots. Zito won his first Derby with Strike The Gold in 1991 and then sneaked up on the race three years later with the lightly regarded Go For Gin, who thrived on an off track. It’s another three years later for Zito. Shammy Davis has never won a stake, is winless since January and lacked a finishing kick in the Jim Beam and the Lexington Stakes.

11. Deeds Not Words

Starts: 4 1st: 1 2nd: 0 3rd: 2 Purses: $63,215

He once beat Silver Charm, but that was at Del Mar, many moons ago. The critics are asking what trainer Wayne Lukas is doing here. Preserving his Derby streak--this will be his 17th in succession--that’s what. In his only races as a 3-year-old, Deeds Not Words has been beaten by more than 19 lengths.

12. Crimson Classic

Starts: 10 1st: 3 2nd: 2 3rd: 0 Purses: $74,470

In only two stakes starts, this colt has been beaten by 29 3/4 lengths. In his last race, he stumbled leaving the gate and dumped his jockey. John Clay, a fourth-generation Kentucky tobacco farmer who also races in California with trainer Neil Drysdale, still wants to run, so 62-year-old trainer Forrest Kaelin will have his first Derby starter and jockey Robby Albarado his first Derby mount.

13. Free House

Starts: 9 1st: 4 2nd: 2 3rd: 0 Purses: $803,201

Not since 1950, when Middleground broke from No. 14, has the far outside horse won the Derby. “I’m happy with our draw,” said stiff-upper-lip trainer Paco Gonzalez. “[Jockey] David Flores can just let him break and get a position going to the first turn.” Free House has beaten Silver Charm the last two times at Santa Anita, yet the buzz is all Silver Charm. Flores’ job in the stretch is to remind his colt that it’s not over until it’s over.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE FACTS

Where: Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

When: Saturday, 2:32 PDT

Television: Channel 7, 1:30 PDT

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PP Horse Jockey Odds 1. Crypto Star Day 7-2 2. Phantom On Tour Bailey 17-1 3. Concerto Marquez 9-1 4. Captain Bodgit Solis 9-2 5. Silver Charm Stevens 7-2 6. Celtic Warrior Torres 20-1 7. Pulpit Sellers 8-1 8. Hello Smith 11-1 9. a-Jack Flash Perret 11-1 10. a-Shammy Davis Martinez 11-1 11. Deeds Not Words Nakatani 20-1 12. Crimson Classic Albarado 60-1 13. Free House Flores 12-1

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