THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008
SPORTS
HORSE RACING
7B
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Exercise rider Michelle Nevin takes Kentucky Derby hopeful Big Brown for a workout at Churchill Downs Thursday in Louisville, Ky.
Big Brown is Derby favorite
BY RICHARD ROSENBLATT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — No one knows Big Brown better than Michelle Nevin.
The exercise rider for the unbeaten Kentucky Derby favorite has ridden the big bay colt more than 100 times, and she remains awed by his graceful stride and powerful running style.
ning style.
"The horse just floats over the ground," Nevin said in her Irish brogue following Big Brown's final workout before Saturday's Derby. "You don't feel like you're going that fast at all."
"The horse just floats over the ground. You don't feel like you're going that fast at all."
He just lengthens his stride. It's very smooth. It's very comfortable. He's like a powerhouse underneath you."
35. 40 seconds, Big Brown barely worked up a sweat and walked back to the barn with a bounce in his step.
Big Brown is all that, and more. The colt with three victories by a combined 29 lengths has created quite a backstretch buzz at Churchill Downs.
Dozens of photographers followed Big Brown to the track for Thursday morning's tuneup. Fans gawked at the striking colt, with one hollering, "There goes the Derby winner."
After breezing three furlongs in
Asked if she was concerned about any of the 19 other horses in the field, Nevin smiled.
Big Brown has overcome tender front feet to take all involved on quite a ride. Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.
"Not after that." she said.
MICHELLE NEVIN Big Brown's exercise rider
is telling everyone he has the best horse and plans to bet as much money as he can on Big Brown to win. Jockey Kent Desormeaux is as confident of victory as Dutrow. And IEAH Stables was so taken
with the colt after his first victory, it paid a reported $3 million to own a 75 percent share.
The horse is named for UPS, a client of minority owner Paul Pompa Jr., and that has generated additional interest. During Dutrow's news conference, a UPS man dressed head-to-toe in brown wheeled up a bale of hay and made a mock presentation. The shipping label read: "To Big Brown, Kentucky Derby winner's circle."
Big Brown will have to deliver from the outside No. 20 post, where only one other Derby winner started from (Clyde Van Dusen in 1929). Also, Big Brown will attempt to become the first Derby winner with just three previous starts since the filly Regret in 1915.
"We're not worried," Dutrow said. "It's all good, babe."
No one seems concerned.
Dutrow & Co. — "my people" he calls them — have been enjoying every minute of this. But the trainer knows he wouldn't be at his first Derby without a horse like Big Brown.
"His talent and his ability got us here, not my training technique," Dutrow said. "Any good enough
horseman can do what I've done with this horse. Any jockey can do what Kent has done with this horse. Any groom, any hot-walker. It's the horse making the whole game go."
The game
"It was very frustrating" Dutrow said.
had numerous offers for the colt. The most appealing came from IEAH, which allowed Pompa to retain an interest in the colt.
Big Brown won his career opener at Saratoga last Sept. 3 by 11% lengths. A few days later, Pompa
Dutrow watched a race replay and returned the call.
"I watched it on TV and called Rick at his house in Saratoga and told him I have to own that horse." IEAH co-president Michael Iavarone said.
started slowly for Big Brown, who missed training for two long periods with quarter cracks, the first cracked hoof on the left front foot, the second on the right front foot.
"I can find a stall for him," he said.
When Big Brown arrived at Dutrow's barn at Aqueduct, the trainer wasn't bowled over.
"He did not take your breath
away," Dutrow said. "He looks like he does now, maybe a little bit bigger. We were happy to have a chance with him."
Shortly after Big Brown resumed training, the first quarter crack
appeared. The colt missed 45 days while an abscess healed. In mid-December at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach, Fla., the second one appeared and Big Brown did not go to the track in January.
Ian McKinlay, a hoof specialist from New York, fitted Big Brown with special rubber-tipped, glue-on shoes at $550 a pair.
MLB
Colorado shortstop injured, could be out for months
BY ARNIE STAPLETON ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Best case scenario is six weeks. The realistic one is a few months," agent Paul Cohen told The Associated Press on Thursday. "We're hoping it's a couple months, but we won't know until they do further medical tests."
DENVER — Colorado Rockies star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki tore a tendon in his left quadriceps and could be out until the All-Star break, if not longer.
Cohen said team doctors will have a better feel for a timeline next week after "massive swelling and bleeding" subside. "It's a non-surgical tear, which could be a good thing."
Tulowitzki, the runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year last season, was injured while charging a grounder in the first inning at San Francisco Tuesday night, and he underwent an MRI exam on Wednesday, which found a complete tear of the tendon near his hip.
The injury is rare in baseball but is not uncommon in soccer players.
Following his sensational rookie season, Tulowitzki signed a $31 million, six-year deal, the largest contract ever signed by a non-japanese or Cuban player with fewer than two years' of major league service.
"He's just so disappointed for his
Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, front, joins third baseman Garrett Atkins, center, and left fielder Matt Holliday on the bench as the Rockies post a victory against the Chicago Cubs in name in Denver on April 24.
Fighting through a season-long slump, Tulowitzki wasn't scheduled to play Tuesday night but was a late addition after second baseman Jeff Baker broke a blood vessel in the middle finger of his right hand during batting practice.
teammates and the fans," Cohen said. "He just can't believe it, really. It's still sinking in."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rockies' first NL pennant was fueled by the 23-year-old star's phenomenal performance in the field, at the plate and in the clubhouse. Tulowitzki became a respected leader among established veterans including Todd Helton and Matt Holliday despite having played barely a year in the minor leagues.
He led big league shortstops in fielding percentage, got to many more balls than anyone at his position and even turned an unassisted triple play, just the 13th in major league history.
He also set an NL rookie record for home runs by a shortstop (24) and batted .291 with 99 RBIs as the Rockies surged to their first World Series.
The crowds at Coors Field began a rhythmic chant for Tulowitzki, and Colorado set a big league record for fielding percentage.
His October exposure, however, created a thick book on Tulowitzki, and he had a hard time in April adjusting to pitchers armed with new scouting reports who busted him high and inside with fastballs before getting him to chase pitches down and away.
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito rests on the hitting cage during batting practice before their baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in San Francisco. Barry Zito was embarrassed by his poor pitching this season for San Francisco. Zito has struggled under the $126 million contract and the pressure that comes with it. Zito has started 0-6 with a 7.53 ERA.
Zito gets benched after losing streak
BY JANIE MCCAULEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
The idiosyncratic left-hander, brought in with a gaudy $126 million contract to be the face of the Giants in the post-Barry Bonds era, delivered an underwhelming first season in 2007, going 11-13.
SAN FRANCISCO — The boos began before Barry Zito even took the mound for the San Francisco Giants home opener.
This year, the heckling has only grown louder.
Zito has lost all six of his starts and posted a 7.53 ERA. Earlier this week he was demoted to the bullpen, and on Friday he will miss what would have been his seventh
start — the first time in his career he's missed his turn to pitch.
Z it o plays guitar, observes a personal dress code that's quirky to say the least and has practiced yoga. The lat-
will be available out of the bullpen Friday for the first time.
"From my standpoint, this is a bump in the road,and it's a big bump."
Before Zito signed his contract and crossed San Francisco Bay, his eccentric personality was well-established.
est turn in his career is a lot to meditate over.
"We don't have a target date when he's going to go back into the rotation — I think sooner than later," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's had slow starts before, maybe not to this extreme. He'll come out of this, and I think he'll be stronger for it, too."
BARRY ZITO Giants pitcher
"From my standpoint, this is a bump in the road, and it's a big bump." Zito said. "It's a battle. It's stuff that I've gone through, but there hasn't been the scrutiny around it because of the market or the contract. But I've gone through this."
When the Giants open a weekend series at Philadelphia, Pat Misch will start in Zito's place. Zito
Today Santana owns the only pitching contract richer than Zito's, at $137.5 million. He's 3-2 with the New York Mets — or exactly three more wins than Zito has notched this year.
His velocity is down significantly, his command has been off and his trademark nasty curveball is fooling hitters less than ever.
He's been known to pair garrish, pulled-up striped socks with plaid shorts. He's taken special pillows on the road, as well as candles and bath salts on the road to help soothe himself the day after a
It's a far cry from the dominant 23-game winner who won the 2002 AL Cy Young Award with Oakland and outduelled Johan Santana in the playoff opener in 2006, just two months before signing his contract with the Giants.
start.
In a single off season while he was with Oakland, he managed to play guitar on late-night TV, appear on "The Howard Stern Show" and guest star on "Aril$."
He's used
to being known more for those personal quirks, and for winning.
So far, he has faced the setback with his typical positive mindset and answered every question from reporters.
"I'm not going to get the attitude of sequestering myself from the team, you guys. I take everything in stride," Zito said. "I don't resist the microscope. It's a new challenge. There's a lot of growth and strength that comes out of these things."
In May 2006, the Giants did something similar when Matt Cain struggled, skipping his turn in the rotation once and using him in relief before he returned to his starting role.
"Zitto's a guy we're always going to look up to," Cain said. "He's a different kind of leader. He's a quiet guy. I think it will be good for him. He's having a rough time right now, but he's a competitor and this is not going to stop him. He's not going to quit. We want him to have the same success he had in Oakland."