LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This is an altogether different Kentucky Derby. It hasn’t been hijacked by bombastic owners. There has been no need to manufacture story lines. No, for the first time since I have been coming here, the horses are the genuine stars and there is a sense that the 141st running of America’s signature race is going to be one for the ages.
Much of it has to do with the two colts trained by Bob Baffert, American Pharoah and Dortmund. All week, horsemen have been trekking to his barn as if it were the Louvre to take a look at what they consider to be the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo of a deep and talented crop of 3-year-olds.