Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 1, 1990                   TAG: 9005010121
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.                                LENGTH: Medium

INJURY AND ILLNESS WIPE OUT DERBY THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

By post time Saturday, everybody who follows racing will have become excited, convinced that the 17 colts who go to the post are an outstanding group.

Every Kentucky Derby appears fascinating before it is run, and there indeed is a rational case to be made that several of this year's contenders might be special. Mister Frisky brings a better record to this race than any colt in 116 years. Summer Squall has as much heart as a horse can.

But you also can draw up another field of 3-year-olds who could have been in this race but are not. That field might be better than the real one, and just contemplating a race involving the top eight colts in each group makes Saturday's race seem dull and disappointing by comparison.

The likely Derby field will be Mister Frisky, Summer Squall, Thirty Six Red, Silver Ending, Land Rush, Unbridled, Burnt Hills, Real Cash, Shot Gun Scott, Video Ranger, Pendleton Ridge, Killer Diller, Dr. Bobby A, Pleasant Tap, Power Lunch, Country Day and Fighting Fantasy.

Among those missing will be Roanoke, Rhythm, Grand Canyon, Red Ransom, Champagneforashley, Housebuster, Slavic, Adjudicating, Senor Pete, Secret Hello, Yonder, Magical Mile and Home at Last.

Most racing fans would prefer the second race to the first, both for quality and competitiveness. Most disappointing about this year's Derby field is its lack of depth. The two favorites tower above the others on accomplishment, the next three or four colts are legitimate contenders and then the bottom drops out.

What happened this year forms no trend or pattern: It is simply the luck of the race track, and this was an unlucky season.

Most of the missing were felled by illness or injury. Grand Canyon strained knee muscles. Red Ransom tore a tendon sheath. Adjudicating got a virus. Secret Hello broke a bone. Roanoke got a kidney infection.

Others did not pan out, possibly because of physical ailments but possibly because some promising 2-year-olds simply fail to improve the next spring. Rhythm, the 1989 champion 2-year-old, came down with a breathing problem but ran just as poorly after undergoing surgery to correct it.

Slavic came up with an ankle problem two weeks ago, but he had been running dull races all spring. Senor Pete ran one good race and two bad ones and will get a break until someone can figure out why.

Then there are three who are ready to run but won't. Champagneforashley's handlers insist their colt is sound and think he is the best around, but they have decided to wait for the Preakness.

Housebuster's camp knows it has an extraordinary sprinter and does not want to risk ruining him by asking to run farther than he really wants to. When the division's best 3-year-olds run in the Belmont Stakes on June 9, Housebuster will make his next start on that same card, in the seven-furlong Riva Ridge Stakes.

As for Home at Last, an easy winner of the Preview and the Lexington in his past two starts, his owners simply didn't think much of him as of March 17 and neglected to nominate him for the Triple Crown races.

No absentees have been retired, and there is reason to think some of them will be back. Grand Canyon is supposed to start training again in June, and Red Ransom could be back in August.

Rhythm, Adjudicating, Senor Pete and Slavic are at Belmont Park and might make races such as the Dwyer, the Jim Dandy and the Travers. Secret Hello and Home at Last will race this summer in Chicago.

The most recent Derbies that lacked so many prominent colts were in 1984 and 1982.

In 1984, Devil's Bag had dominated the previous year's 2-year-old season, then was joined at the top of the class by Time for a Change and Dr. Carter. By Derby Day, all were sidelined with injuries, and only Dr. Carter ever raced with success again.

Swale, hidden in the shadow of stablemate Devil's Bag all winter, emerged to win the Derby and the Belmont, beating such entirely forgettable colts as Coax Me Chad and Pine Circle. Swale died eight days after the Belmont, and older horses dominated the rest of the season.

The 1982 Derby, probably the worst of the past 20 years, was run without Deputy Minister, Timely Writer and almost all of the previous year's best 2-year-olds.

Gato Del Sol won it, with Laser Light second. Neither was heard from again. The remainder of 1982's important races were won by colts who had not been in that Derby: Aloma's Ruler in the Preakness, Conquistador Cielo in the Belmont and Runaway Groom in the Travers.

Could the same thing happen this year? Until this Derby is run, there is nothing to say that Mister Frisky is not the genuine article or that Summer Squall has not been the best colt in this crop all along.

Thirty Six Red and Silver Ending have become good quickly, and maybe they will keep improving. Beyond those four, though, Gato Del Sol could be in the thick of this Derby.

Keywords:
HORSE RACING