Plenty of options for your money in Run for the Roses

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- What can Brown do for you? Well, that depends. Do you want to bet the favorite, asking little in return? In that case, Big Brown (named after the UPS slogan) is the horse for you in the Kentucky Derby. Considered the best of a better-than-average bunch, Big Brown will go off at 3-1. But many people are mystified.

Big Brown is a 3-1 favorite for the Kentucky Derby. (AP)

Hasn't this horse had only three races in his entire career? Wasn't he off the track for 45 days with an abscess on the sole of his left foot?

"None of that bothers me at all," said his trainer Rick Dutrow. "It just means we have the freshest horse."

But what about Big Brown starting from the outside post?

With few choices left in the draw, Dutrow took the farthest outside post, figuring that Big Brown would break well and avoid being bumped. But only one horse in 133 years has ever won from post 20: Clyde Van Dusen back in 1929.

"That doesn't bother me either," said Dutrow. "We have a pretty quick horse out of the gate. He'll get in position."

If it's possible to have the favorite a long shot, Big Brown might be it. Not since 1915 -- the filly Regret -- has a horse won the Derby off only three starts.

But that's what makes the first Saturday in May so special. No one knows the answer, and everyone has an opinion. By Thursday afternoon, people were talking Colonel John, who wound up in post 10 and will go off at 4-1. And by early evening, people were whispering Pyro, who's the third favorite at 6-1.

As the draw turned out, much of the speed is outside, with Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bob Black Jack (the world-record holder at six furlongs!), Cowboy Cal (owned by Houston Texan owner Bob McNair) and Recapturetheglory (trained by Risen Star's popular man from the Bayou, Louie Roussel).

Colonel John, the winner in the Santa Anita Derby, has raced exclusively over synthetic tracks in his six-race career, but he came to Churchill Downs and kicked up some dirt. He worked five furlongs Wednesday in a sizzling 57.80, close to Hard Spun's famous work last year (57.60), which had been the fastest pre-Derby work in 34 years.

"Colonel John did it within himself," said trainer Eoin Hardy. "The track won't be an issue."

Synthetic track has been the talk of racing leading up to the Derby. The Southern California Racing Board mandated that all races would be run on the innovative surface, which is made of ground up rubber, carpet fibers and spandex. It is said to reduce horse-related injuries, but the Run for the Roses is still on good old dirt.

Colonel John is bred for the dirt and the distance. His sire, Tiznow, won the 2000 Breeders' Cup Classic, right here at Churchill Downs. But maybe you don't care about all that. Maybe you think it's finally Todd Pletcher's time. For 12 years, it was the same story with Wayne Lukas -- when is he going to win the Derby? He finally did in 1988 when Winning Colors went wire-to-wire.

Pletcher, Lukas' long-time assistant, has run 19 unsuccessful entrants in the Derby. This year he'll try with Monba (15-1) and Cowboy Cal (20-1). Widely considered the best trainer in America, Pletcher is happy the way his two horses have come up to the race. Monba, son of 1995 Horse of the Year Maria's Mon (who sired 2001 Derby winner Monarchos) has the pedigree, while Cowboy Cal has had all of his success on turf.

Pyro might be the most confusing horse here. He has the potential to either light up the board or rain on the parade. After closing his 2-year-old campaign with a second in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile behind War Pass, he went on to dazzle as a 3-year-old. But then he struggled home 10th in the Blue Grass on the synthetic surface, and even his trainer seemed bewildered.

"That surface is a new variable," said Steve Asmussen. "I don't know what to make of it. After the Blue Grass, he ate well, he didn't go into a shell. But I know one thing, he'll never race on synthetic again."

If none of these horses does it for you, there's even a sentimental favorite. Eight Belles, the filly, is named after the famous Andrew Wyeth home in Maine. The pretty daughter of Unbridled is 4-0 this year and will attempt to become only the fourth filly to win the blanket of roses and the first since Winning Colors 20 years ago. Her trainer, Larry Jones, almost certainly could have captured the Oaks but said, "my heart told me to go in the Derby. I think she belongs."

Still stuck for a pick? So is everyone else. I liked Court Vision, named for the ability possessed by every great point guard, until I noticed he was wearing blinkers.