KENTUCKY DERBY CAPSULES

A look at the 19 3-year-olds entered in today’s 119th running of the Kentucky Derby. The horses will carry 126 pounds and are listed in post position order.

1. STORM TOWER

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 4 1 0 $532,094 1992 1 1 0 0 $9,300 Life 6 5 1 0 $541,394

Sire: Irish Tower

Jockey: Rick Wilson.

Trainer: Ben Perkins, Jr.

Owner: Char-Mari Stable

Opening odds: 9-2

Comment: Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. and his owners heeded their second thoughts about coming to Kentucky after their colt’s wire-to-wire victory in the Wood Memorial. They have every right to be here: Storm Tower suffered his only defeat, a second-place finish behind Bull Inthe Heather, on an off-track. One of his owners, Anthony Tornetta, died a week ago after a battle with cancer.

2. KISSIN KRIS

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 1 2 1 $193,294 1992 5 2 0 1 $33,840 Life 10 3 2 2 $227,134

Sire: Kris S

Jockey: Jose Santos

Trainer: David Bell

Owner: John Franks

Opening odds: 30-1

Comment: The Derby is no place for a nervous horse, and owner-breeder John Franks’ colt has a history of working himself into a lather before races. With a late run, Kissin Kris was second to Rockamundo in the Arkansas Derby. He has won only one of his last seven starts. Franks has a double rooting interest, also being the co-breeder of Bull Inthe Heather.

3. TRUTH OF IT ALL

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 0 1 1 $19,267 1992 5 4 0 1 $163,191 Life 8 4 1 2 $182,458

Sire: Proud Truth

Trainer: Sheldon Wolfe

Jockey: Jorge Velasquez

Owner: Alexander Schmidt

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: This gelded son of Proud Truth has been nicknamed “Dennis the Menace.” His career began in Canada and has led to Arkansas and Kentucky, with a third-place finish in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in his last start. Truth Of It All ran for a $40,000 claiming price when he broke his maiden in his first start. Jockey Jorge Velasquez, who will ride him for the second time, has had a string of off-the-board Derby finishes since winning the race with Pleasant Colony in 1981.

4. UNION CITY

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 1 3 0 $157,200 1992 4 1 2 0 $26,065 Life 9 2 5 0 $183,265

Sire: Private Account

Jockey: Pat Valenzuela

Trainer: Wayne Lukas

Owner: Overbrook Farm

Opening odds: 8-1.

Comment: More robust physically than he was while running second to Personal Hope in the Santa Anita Derby a month ago, Union City has trained better than any of the other horses since they arrived in Kentucky. He has given Wayne Lukas reason to believe that there’s a second Derby winner in his future. By contrast, Union City might have trouble with the 1 1/4-mile distance and he’s trying to become one of those rare horses that makes the Derby his first stakes victory.

5. PRAIRIE BAYOU

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 4 1 0 $788,686 1992 4 2 1 0 $45,100 Life 9 6 2 0 $833,786

Sire: Little Missouri

Jockey: Mike Smith

Trainer: Tom Bohannan

Owner: Loblolly Stable

Opening odds: 5-2

Comment: He’s this year’s most consistent 3-year-old. Rival trainers are hoping that he has peaked early and might be due to have a bad one. The Loblolly Stable of John Ed Anthony was heavy with Derby contenders earlier in the year, and Dalhart still might be their best 3-year-old by the end of the year. Much of Prairie Bayou’s success today hangs on his ability to get a clean trip in a cluttered field.

6. SEA HERO

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 0 0 1 $29,290 1992 7 3 1 0 $339,720 Life 10 3 1 1 $369,010

Sire: Polish Navy

Jockey: Jerry Bailey

Trainer: Mack Miller

Owner: Rokeby Stable

Opening odds: 30-1

Comment: Sentimentalists will be betting Sea Hero. Paul Mellon, who bred and races the colt, is almost 86 and has never won a Derby. His longtime trainer, Mack Miller, is 72 and also without a Derby victory. Sea Hero might not be here otherwise, because pushing a horse into the Derby is not the style for either horseman. Sea Hero is an off-track specialist who won last year’s Champagne but hasn’t won since. To make a case for this colt, theorists are saying that his two bad races in Florida this winter are history and he’s got a right to be here off a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass.

7. PERSONAL HOPE

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 4 3 1 0 $384,325 1992 2 1 0 0 $15,400 Life 6 4 1 0 $399,725

Sire: Storm Bird

Jockey: Gary Stevens

Trainer: Mark Henning

Owner: Debi and Lee Lewis

Opening odds: 7-2

Comment: Speed usually kills in the Derby, recent exceptions being Winning Colors in 1988 and Spend A Buck in ‘85, who were allowed to coast along by themselves and had enough left in the tank for the drive. Personal Hope and Storm Tower seem to be one another’s worst enemy. Personal Hope has never won a bad race for Mark Hennig, 28, who could become the youngest trainer of a Derby winner since Hollie Hughes saddled George Smith in 1916.

8. ROCKAMUNDO

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 1 0 0 0 $309,000 1992 7 2 1 0 $74,625 Life 8 2 1 0 $373,625

Sire: Key To The Mint

Jockey: Calvin Borel

Trainer: Oris Glass Jr.

Owner: Gary and Mary West

Opening odds: 20-1

Comment: Based on his morning-line price of 20-1, the handicappers still don’t have any faith in the Arkansas Derby winner, who paid $218 to win at Oaklawn Park. Rockamundo had won only one of nine races before Arkansas, but his breathing problem seems to have gone away since jockey Calvin Borel has been giving him therapeutic whacks in the stomach during morning workouts.

9. SILVER OF SILVER

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 4 0 0 2 $46,734 1992 5 3 0 1 $379,680 Life 9 3 0 3 $426,414

Sire: Silver Buck

Jockey: Jacinto Vasquez

Trainer: Stanley Shapoff

Owner: Chevalier Stable

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: Horses from the mutuel field generally don’t make at impact in the Derby, but Silver Of Silver’s trainer, Stanley (Skip) Shapoff, did all right with Hudson County, who chased Cannonade home before finishing second in 1974. It has been a difficult year for both horse and trainer. Silver Of Silver’s racing schedule has been affected by a respiratory problem and after his seventh-place finish in the Lexington Stakes, he had a puffy ankle. Shapoff, 74, has undergone open-heart surgery, and was training the horse by phone until two weeks ago.

10. BULL INTHE HEATHER

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 4 1 2 0 $377,698 1992 4 1 0 1 $20,280 Life 8 2 2 1 $397,978

Sire: Ferdinand

Jockey: Wigberto Ramos

Trainer: Howard Tesher

Owner: Arthur I. Klein

Opening odds: 10-1

Comment: He’s trying to become the second roan, after Winning Colors, to win the Derby. The Florida Derby winner returned three weeks later and lost the Flamingo Stakes by a head. The last time trainer Howie Tesher brought a horse to the Derby, Wolfie’s Rascal finished 17th in a 19-horse field. “We weren’t serious,” Tesher said. “We shipped him in like a claimer.” And, it might be added, the horse ran like one.

11. TOSSOFTHECOIN

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 0 3 2 $176,650 1992 4 1 2 0 $28,000 Life 9 1 5 2 $204,650

Sire: Magesterial

Jockey: Laffit Pincay

Trainer: Thomas Bell

Owner: Sidney H. Craig

Opening odds: 8-1 (field).

Comment: Can a horse who has almost always second--five times in nine starts--be first in the race of his lifetime? He has that traditional Wood Memorial advantage, already having carried Derby weight of 126 pounds while finishing second behind Storm Tower in the Aqueduct race two weeks ago. He probably wouldn’t have come to the Derby if Sidney and Jenny Craig hadn’t bought him for $1 million about a week ago.

12. MI CIELO

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 1 0 1 $56,900 1992 6 2 1 2 $94,825 Life 9 3 1 3 $151,725

Sire: Conquistador Cielo

Jockey: Aaron Gryder

Trainer: Peter Vestal

Owner: Thomas M. Carey

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: If Rockamundo is here, Mi Cielo’s handlers figure, they should be, too, since the son of Belmont winner Conquistador Cielo was fourth, beaten only by 1 1/2 lengths in the topsy-turvy Arkansas Derby. Mi Cielo has never won a stake, however, and is better known for the company he has kept than his own accomplishments.

13. WILD GALE

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 0 1 0 $28,420 1992 8 3 2 2 $205,369 Life 11 3 3 2 $233,769

Sire: Alydar

Jockey: Shane Sellers

Trainer: Michael Doyle

Owner: Little Fish Stable Inc.

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: Fifth in the Jim Beam, fifth in the Lexington Stakes, Wild Gale has the kind of consistency that his trainer, Michael Doyle, would like to change. Victory today would mean a $1-million bonus for owner Fred Yelinek, based on Wild Gale’s winning the Brown & Williamson Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old.

14. RAGTIME REBEL

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 4 0 1 2 $42,349 1992 6 1 3 1 $62,028 Life 10 1 4 3 $104,377

Sire: Dixieland Brass

Jockey: Robert Lester

Trainer: Cliff Darnell

Owner: Ronald J. Childress

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: A last-minute decision brought Ragtime Rebel to Louisville from Remington Park in Oklahoma City, and he was the last Derby contender to arrive. The colt has lost six in a row and is without a victory in the last eight months.

15. DIXIELAND HEAT

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 5 4 0 1 $274,175 1992 1 1 0 0 $6,600 Life 6 5 0 1 $280,775

Sire: Dixieland Band

Jockey: Randy Romero

Trainer: Gerald Romero

Owner: Leland Cook

Opening odds: 15-1

Comment: Too many things have gone wrong for the Louisiana Derby winner to have inspired any strong vibes here. Undefeated in five starts at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, Dixieland Heat ran a good third in the Blue Grass, but came out of the race with tender heels. Then he drew the first stall in the dreaded auxiliary starting gate. Trainer Gerald Romero and jockey Randy Romero are aiming to become the first brother combination to win a Derby.

16. WALLENDA

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 4 0 2 1 $159,750 1992 9 2 1 1 $119,544 Life 13 2 3 2 $279,294

Sire: Gulch

Jockey: Pat Day

Trainer: Frank Alexander

Owner: Dogwood Stable

Opening odds: 15-1

Comment: After Herb McCauley broke his collarbone, trainer Frank Alexander hired Pat Day to ride his colt. That’s not a bad substitute--Day is Mr. Churchill Downs and finally removed the Derby albatross when he rode Lil E. Tee to victory last year. Day’s patient riding style fits Wallenda’s late-running tendencies, but there are serious questions about the son of Gulch’s ability to get the distance. Wallenda is on a six-race winning streak but ran one of his better races and still finished second to Prairie Bayou in the Blue Grass.

17. CORBY

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 2 0 0 $142,550 1992 6 2 2 1 $95,550 Life 9 4 2 1 $238,100

Sire: Dahar

Jockey: Chris McCarron

Trainer: John Sadler

Owner: Allen E. Paulson

Opening odds: 12-1 (entry).

Comment: A victim of a schedule that took him away from Santa Anita and led to a seventh-place finish as the favorite in the Blue Grass, Corby got nothing in conditioning out of that race and in effect runs today off a seven-week layoff. He was undefeated at Santa Anita and scored a decisive victory over Personal Hope before the Keeneland disaster.

18. DIAZO

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 3 2 0 0 $55,200 1992 2 0 1 0 $6,300 Life 5 2 1 0 $61,500

Sire: Jade Hunter

Jockey: Kent Desormeaux

Trainer: Bill Shoemaker

Owner: Allen E. Paulson

Opening odds: 12-1 (entry).

Comment: Owner Allen Paulson’s two starters, Corby and Diazo, both wound up in the auxiliary gate. Diazo, running for only the fifth time, wasn’t fit for the 1 1/8 miles of the Arkansas Derby, running fifth, and is expected to be short for 1 1/4 miles as well. Bill Shoemaker, who rode four Derby winners, has a remote chance to join Johnny Longden as the only horsemen to ride and train Derby winners.

19. EL BAKAN

St 1 2 3 Earnings 1993 2 1 1 0 $29,473 1992 6 6 0 0 $22,045 Life 8 7 1 0 $51,518

Sire: Yukon

Jockey: Craig Perret

Trainer: Alfredo Callejas

Owner: Robert Perez

Opening odds: 8-1 (field)

Comment: This Panamanian import led every step of the Lexington until Grand Jewel ran him down in the stretch and won by half a length. The outside post in a 19-horse field is the worst place for a speed horse, and if El Bakan turns left out of the gate to try to get to the fence, everyone inside him is in peril.