Bellamy Road top choice in early line

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Nick Zito is ready for a memorable Kentucky Derby. Yankees boss George Steinbrenner could use a good day, too.

Bellamy Road, owned by the Boss and trained by Zito, was made the 5-2 favorite for Saturday's Derby based on his most recent runaway victory, a 17 1/2-length romp in the Wood Memorial last month.

There were no arguments from the rest of the field.

"Off his last performance, he earned it," Tim Ritchey, trainer of 9-2 second choice Afleet Alex said after Wednesday's post-position draw. "Horses don't do that every day of the week."

Bellamy Road will be ridden by Javier Castellano and leave from the No. 16 post.

"I wanted to be on the outside with that horse," said Zito, looking for his third Derby win. "He's like a big cat. I have no excuse. We have a shot, and he'll get a clear run."

The No. 16 post has worked well in the last 10 years, producing three Derby winners -- Thunder Gulch in 1995, Charismatic in 1999 and Monarchos in 2001.

A full field of 20 3-year-olds was entered for the 1 1/4-mile race, with Blue Grass winner Bandini the third choice at 6-1, followed by High Fly, the second of Zito's five Derby horses, at 8-1. The Florida Derby winner drew the No. 11 post.

Zito's other horses are Noble Causeway at 12-1 (No. 4 post); Sun King at 15-1 (No. 3); and Andromeda's Hero at 50-1 (No. 2).

The only other trainer to have five horses in one Derby was D. Wayne Lukas in 1996. The Hall of Famer won that year with Grindstone.

Asked how long it took to decide which horse would leave from which gate, Zito said: "Five minutes, a minute for each horse. I think we got everything we wanted."

It's unlikely the favorite's role will change this year, not after Bellamy Road's Wood win on April 9 and 15 3/4-length rout in an allowance race a month earlier.

"I've been doing this a long time and I've never seen a horse come in off a 15- and a 17-length win," Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia said. "For a normal race, this horse would've been 6-5 or less. But in the Kentucky Derby, with 20 horses, you've got to keep him at 5-2."

The Derby is no gimme for Bellamy Road. The last horse to win the Derby with only two prior races as a 3-year-old was Sunny's Halo in 1983.

For Steinbrenner, who is scheduled to arrive in town Friday, the Derby may be just the thing to take his mind off his underachieving New York Yankees, who are barely out of last place in the American League East.

"I hope he runs well, and I think he has a good chance but anything can happen," Steinbrenner said in a statement issued by spokesman Howard Rubenstein. "I'm very hopeful."

Zito won the Derby in 1991 with Strike the Gold and in 1994 with Go for Gin.

This is the richest Derby with a purse of $2,399,600. If all 20 start, the winner's share is a record $1,639,600. Last year's Derby had a $1 million purse.

The last time 20 horses started the Derby was 1984. That year a rule was made to cap the field at 20, and since then the maximum has yet to be reached. Last year, 20 were entered but St Averil and Wimbledon were late scratches.

Steinbrenner's Derby record is 0-for-5. His first starter, Steve's Friend, was fifth in 1977. Eternal Prince was 12th in 1985, Diligence (1996) and Concerto (1997) each finished ninth and Blue Burner was 11th in 2002.

Lukas, a four-time Derby winner, and Bob Baffert, a three-time winner, both have 50-1 long shots. Lukas trains Going Wild and Baffert has Sort It Out.

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The field, in post position order from the rail out: Sort It Out (Brice Blanc, 50-1); Andromeda's Hero (Rafael Bejarano, 50-1); Sun King (Edgar Prado, 15-1); Noble Causeway (Gary Stevens, 12-1); Coin Silver (Patrick Valenzuela, 20-1); High Limit (Ramon Dominguez, 12-1); Flower Alley (Jorge Chavez, 20-1); Greater Good (John McKee, 20-1); Greeley's Galaxy (Kent Desormeaux, 15-1); Giacomo (Mike Smith, 50-1); High Fly (Jerry Bailey, 8-1); Afleet Alex (Jeremy Rose, 9-2); Spanish Chestnut (Joe Bravo, 50-1); Wilko (Corey Nakatani, 20-1); Bandini (John Velazquez, 6-1); Bellamy Road (Javier Castellano, 5-2); Don't Get Mad (Tyler Baze, 30-1); Closing Argument (Cornelio Velasquez, 30-1); Going Wild (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 50-1); and Buzzards Bay (Mark Guidry, 20-1).