Street Sense takes unconventional road to the Derby

	Street Sense's win in the Breeders Cup Juvenile last fall may have set him up for a fall as a favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Most of America catches up with the Kentucky Derby about 15 minutes before the starting gate slams open on the first Saturday in May. (Make no mistake, they do catch up; Derby TV ratings kill). The race unfolds in two minutes, followed by a tedious TV presentation on the Churchill Downs infield in which a procession of lawmakers, corporate executives and anchormen step on each other's pronouncements. But it looks nice, out there on the ersatz front porch.

The television audience snaps a mental picture of the winners -- the late Prince Ahmed bin Salman in his big suit, the late Roy (Chappy) Chapman in his wheelchair, the Funny Cide guys, whomever -- and then flips back over to the NBA playoffs tripleheader. And that's that. Like the anchorman always says: See you in two weeks at Pimlico. And it all looks easy. But it's not easy. And it starts long before America begins watching at its collective Derby party.

Which brings me to a warm, windy morning a little more than a week ago in south Florida, standing alongside a horse barn with 66-year-old thoroughbred trainer Carl Nafzger. We are leaning on a railing outside his shedrow, looking in on Street Sense, the Nafzger-trained winner of last November's Breeders Cup Juvenile race, the crowning event for two-year-olds, most of whom are pointing toward the next spring's Derby.

While Street Sense contentedly eats his hay (well, I think he's content; he looks content, but frankly, it's always a guess), Nafzger is talking about the very same post-Derby scene I described at the start of this column. "You see folks out there on the infield, the trainer and the owners," says Nafzger. "And they're having a great time. But let me tell you something. They didn't get some horses and start making money in six months. It's a lot harder than that."

And hardest of all to get a horse to the Kentucky Derby. And have him ready to run. And get the right trip. And then fire at the right time. Why, it's damn near impossible.

Dozens of trainers and owners are presently trying to get their three-year-olds to Churchill Downs. The people who will be watching the race on television in May haven't got the race on their radar yet, but, in fact, time is growing short. Eight weeks from Saturday. Fifty-six days.

The case of Nafzger's Street Sense is interesting on a couple of levels. One, no horse that won the Breeders Cup Juvenile has ever won the Kentucky Derby. Granted, that stat is a little misleading; there have been 132 Kentucky Derbies and only 23 Breeders' Cups. Had there been a Breeders Cup Juvenile in 1972, Secretariat probably would have won it; after all he was Horse of the Year even at that tender age. On the other hand, 22 times a horse has been good enough to win the most significant two-year-old race in America, and none of the them have won the most significant three-year-old race, contested six months later. (Don't mis-read that; six months is a long time at that point in development). Only two have finished as high as third in the Derby (the most recent being Timber Country in '94) and nine of them didn't get to the Derby at all.

So that's one check in the nay column for Street Sense, even through he won the Juvenile by a massive 10 lengths.

Then there is his schedule. Nafzger is running Street Sense only twice in his three-year-old campaign before the Kentucky Derby. Historically speaking, this is a risky plan. The last horse to win the Derby off only two starts was Sunny's Halo in '83. Before that, Jet Pilot in '47. It's not something that happens often.