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 From the Backstretch Most talked-about horses come from Baffert's barn
Posted: Friday April 30, 1999 04:58 PM
By Jon Scher, CNN/SI LOUISVILLE -- It's the day before the Derby, and there's not a cloud in the Kentucky sky. Sports Illustrated senior writer William Nack just lent me his seat in the Churchill Downs press box, so I could bang out a few random observations (hey, a Web credential barely gets you into the stinky part of the stables). And we're off ... Bob Baffert held court from a director's chair outside Barn 33, which houses some of the most talked-about horseflesh in town. There was General Challenge , Nack's pick to win the Derby. There was Silverbulletday , everybody's pick to win this afternoon's Kentucky Oaks for fillies. And there was the filly Excellent Meeting , which Baffert has maneuvered out of the Oaks and into the Run for the Roses. "I think she can handle it," said Baffert, whose shock of white hair can hurt your eyes even through sunglasses. "We're going to find out if fillies are better. I didn't want to find out by watching Three Ring win the race." ... Heard over the loudspeaker in the barn area: " Nick Zito , please turn in your papers for tomorrow." Hope he made the deadline. Zillionaire owner Stephen Hilbert might be a little unhappy if prize colt Stephen Got Even gets left out ... You want to go behind the scenes at a major sporting event? Come to the Derby. Your $35 admission ticket ($20 for today's Oaks) gets you access to just about every place at the track, with the possible exception of William Nack's seat in the press box. The gates open at 8 a.m., and by 8:30 fans were wandering right up to the horses and trainers outside the barns. Fans joined the circle of reporters around trainers like Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas , asking questions, asking for autographs, and chiming in with encouragement and advice. In fact, Kentucky's First Fan even made the scene. I spied -- OK, Nack spotted, and I stared at -- Ashley Judd inside Barn 26, feeding straw to Vicar with trainer Carl Nafzger's enthusiastic approval. Wearing jeans, patent-leather boots and a black sweater covered with hay, the ponytailed Judd chatted with a few fans and stable workers, thanked Nafzger "for letting me hang around", and bounced away, trailed by -- kid you not -- a female flunky wearing a wireless headset. ... Tailgaters were setting up picnic lunches everywhere you looked by 9 or so. Some of the mint julep stands were open for business by 9:30, and a few hard-core partiers were sipping the $6.75 concoctions as they strolled the blacktop behind the grandstand. Too early for me, although the $5.25 Miller Lite -- "Cold beer for breakfast?" the guy yelled at me as I walked by -- was sort of tempting. ... Oh, one piece of advice: Before you go strolling around the barn area, be sure to tie your shoelaces really, really tightly. Mine got untied at one point, and ... it was pretty disgusting. ... Ashley was right, it was fun hanging around with Nafzger, who seems much more down-to-earth than the polished Baffert. Wearing a ballcap with Woody's Performance Horse Feed Products on the front, he joked with reporters while clutching a Styrofoam cup filled to the brim with ... coffee? That must be coffee, right? Nope, it's tobacco juice. There goes the ol' appetite. When asked about Vicar , the winner of the Florida Derby and one of the favorites for Saturday's race, Nafzger channeled Louisville native Muhammad Ali . " Three Rings will zing," he said. " Valhol will go. General Challenge will challenge. But Vicar will be quicker." On Vicar's No. 18 post position (way, way outside): "We lost all strategical advantage when they drawed the race. But all he has to do is flat-out run. And like I said, Vicar will be quicker." On the Derby itself: "As I explained to the Rotary Club yesterday, that charge into the first turn is the most beautiful thing in sports. You've got a quarter-mile to get into position, about 22 seconds to figure it all out. Everyone's brain is going 90,000 miles a minute. It's a great quarter-mile, maybe better than the last quarter-mile. "You know, there really are no words to describe the Derby. Only pictures." So we may as well quit right now. Check back tonight for another edition of From the Backstretch.
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