Wigberto Ramos

In recent years, the Kentucky Derby has been won by such jockeys as Pat Day, Craig Perret, Pat Valenzuela, Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens, Bill Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Laffit Pincay, Eddie Delahoussaye and Jorge Velasquez. There's not an obscure rider in that bunch, and a rule of thumb about winning Derby jockeys is that if they're not already in the Racing Hall of Fame, they're on the front steps.

In recent years, the Kentucky Derby has been won by such jockeys as Pat Day, Craig Perret, Pat Valenzuela, Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens, Bill Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Laffit Pincay, Eddie Delahoussaye and Jorge Velasquez. There's not an obscure rider in that bunch, and a rule of thumb about winning Derby jockeys is that if they're not already in the Racing Hall of Fame, they're on the front steps.

Devil His Due is back in the Pimlico Special to defend his title against some pretty familiar company. Devil His Due, Valley Crossing and Pistols And Roses finished 1-2-3 in the race last year, and they're back in the six-horse field on Saturday. Devil His Due is the 7-5 favorite and will carry high weight of 121 pounds in the $600,000 Grade I race at Pimlico. Joining them will be As Indicated, Greatsilverfleet and Gavel Gate.

Although the tactics were different, the result was still the same in the $104,800 Landaluce at Hollywood Park on Saturday. Trainer Brian Mayberry won the race for the fourth consecutive time, but unlike Zealous Connection, Fluttery Danseur and Garden Gal the previous three years, Rhapsodic came from far off the pace to win. A twice-beaten maiden before the Landaluce, Rhapsodic was running on Lasix for the first time.

Bobby Frankel isn't the only trainer in California with a pair of female stars in his barn. Frankel has Possibly Perfect and Wandesta, and Greg Gilchrist, who is based in Northern California, has Work The Crowd and Soviet Problem. Work The Crowd, a multiple-stakes winner as a 3-year-old in 1994, already has won twice this year and will be at Hollywood Park to race Possibly Perfect in the $300,000 Beverly Hills Handicap on July 2. Soviet Problem is already in Inglewood.

Even though Santa Anita's longest season still has five days to run, here is one person's list of the best of the meeting: TRAINER--Gary Jones. This is a clear choice. He wrapped up his fourth training title earlier this month, and his 11 stakes successes are only three short of the record Charlie Whittingham set in 1971. JOCKEY--Eddie Delahoussaye. This is the toughest call of all because Delahoussaye, Kent Desormeaux and Alex Solis all have had fabulous meetings.

An owner who ignored advice at a yearling auction, a trainer who is allergic to horses and a jockey spurned by another trainer were all fantasizing about the Kentucky Derby on Saturday after Bull Inthe Heather won at 29-1 in the $500,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Able to save ground along the rail after tiring rivals in front of him cleared out, Bull Inthe Heather overtook favored Storm Tower in mid-stretch and pulled away to a two-length victory.

Cahill Road hit a pothole in the road to the Kentucky Derby, finishing third in the Preview Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. Cahill Road, the 1-5 favorite who was seeking a fourth consecutive victory in his stakes debut, was last for most of the 1 1/16 miles. He charged up on the rail in the deep stretch but couldn't catch Shoot To Kill or Shotgun Harry J. Chihuahua finished fourth and Happy Jazz Band, the second betting choice, was last.

When Ben Perkins Jr. went to his first Kentucky Derby in 1975, he arrived in Louisville by bus from Philadelphia, where he had just finished his final exams at the University of Pennsylvania. Perkins' father, Ben Perkins Sr., was saddling Bombay Duck in the Derby. A fast horse, Bombay Duck was 27-1, but still seemed dangerous because he had almost registered an upset two weeks earlier in the Wood Memorial.

When the horses entered the track for the post parade, you didn't need a program to identify the one Braulio Baeza was riding. As they say along the backstretch, he had the classic seat. Ramrod straight, chiseled features, eyes focused straight ahead, he had the pre-race posture of a military academy cadet. Back in Panama, Baeza's father and grandfather were jockeys before they trained horses. "My father had a lot to do with the way I looked on a horse," he said.

When Jerry Botts, Churchill Downs' vice president for racing, announced Thursday that Personal Hope had drawn the No. 7 post position for Saturday's Kentucky Derby, a howl went up from the back of the crowd in the Derby Museum. Derby participants sweat more over post positions for the race than they do over their veterinarians' X-rays. Presumably, the reaction to Personal Hope's draw came from the Santa Anita Derby winner's owners, Lee and Debi Lewis.