New Kentucky Derby bonus an invitation to injury

	A handful of poor workouts and a lackluster Illinois Derby will keep Cobalt Blue, and owner Merv Griffin, from this year's Derby. AP

The newest gimmick bonus conceived for the Kentucky Derby by its title sponsor is an ill-conceived miss that stands a better chance of damaging the sport of racing than enhancing it, and racing's margin for error is much too small.

The details were made public Monday by Yum! Brands, the Louisville-based company in its second year as the Derby's title sponsor. ("The Kentucky Derby sponsored by Yum! Brands.") Any horse that wins the Kentucky Derby by more than Barbaro's six-and-a-half-length winning margin from 2006 will receive a $1 million bonus.

It's even more complex: The bonus will be divided like so: Twenty-five percent each to the winning jockey, trainer and owner, and the other 25 percent to the Barbaro Memorial Fund. That's the very worthy charity that benefits the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., the cutting edge veterinary hospital where Barbaro survived more than eight unlikely months after his catastrophic injury in last year's Preakness.

So let's get this straight: As a reward for whipping the snot out of a horse already guaranteed victory in the most important race on the planet, thus dramatically increasing the likelihood of that horse getting injured and winding up like Barbaro, some jockey, trainer and owner will get a quarter of a million dollars each, and another quarter-million will be set aside to care for horses who have had the snot whipped out of them and become injured.

Carl Nafzger, the veteran trainer who conditions potential Derby favorite Street Sense, was asked yesterday morning what he would do if his jockey rolled into the stretch with a lead in the Derby and began whipping his horse to win the bonus.

Nafzger said, "I'll kill him.''

According to its corporate website, Yum! Brands generated more than $9.5 billion in world revenues in 2006. So write a check for $1 million to the Barbaro Memorial Fund. Publicize the daylights out of it. Then abandon the bonus.

A modern-day Red Pollard?

Jockeys take a beating, so it's never surprising to see a rider looking vaguely wounded on the racetrack backstretch. On Tuesday morning, Calvin Borel worked Street Sense in a five-furlong blowout for Nafzger and then removed his helmet and goggles to reveal a nasty purple bruise beneath his right eye, a basic, garden variety shiner.

Yet in Borel's case the black eye was ominous. Borel is 40, a wiry Cajun who has never won a Triple Crown race and never finished better than eighth in his four attempts at the Kentucky Derby. He is known and respected for his willingness to dive into narrow gaps along the rail -- as he did with Street Sense in winning last November's Breeders Cup Juvenile race at Churchill Downs -- and he might not have a better shot at winning the Derby than Saturday aboard Street Sense, a serious racehorse.

Hence, his injury bespoke the closeness to missing his chance. How could this have happened? A horse's neck snapping back against his face? A jocks' room scuffle with another rider?