Trainer: Barclay Tagg

Tagg, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley, graduated from Penn State University in 1961 with a degree in animal sciences and first got involved with horses while managing a farm in Pennsylvania in 1963. He started riding jumpers in 1966 and began his training career in earnest in 1971, winning his first race at Liberty Bell in 1972. He won the 2003 Kentucky Derby with Funny Cide, who went on to capture the Preakness Stakes before falling short in the Belmont Stakes.  He also saddled Showing Up to a sixth place finish in the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

Jockey: Javier Castellano

Javier Castellano was born October 23, 1977 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He now Resides in Garden City, N.Y. He has a wife named Abby and daughter Kayla Marie. His most well known mounts include Jambalaya, Ghostzapper, Corinthian, Nobiz Like Showbiz and Bernardini. Castellano started riding in Venezuela in 1996; moved to the United States a few months later, He has won riding titles at Aqueduct, Tropical-at-Calder and Hialeah. Twice, he has won five races on one card at Saratoga. He accomplished the feat on Sept. 7, 2004 and in 2005 on Sept. 3, which included an upset on Mass Media in the Forego Stakes.

Owner: Eric Fein

The way owner Eric Fein approaches Thoroughbred racing with his Kentucky Derby prospect Big Truck is reminiscent of the Sackatoga Stable group that raced Funny Cide to a Derby victory in 2003 and the Mike Pegram entourage accompanying Real Quiet to the 1998 Derby winner’s circle. Fein, of Jericho, N.Y., on Long Island, is the sheriff of a posse of 50 or so folks with whom he shares his racing thrills, professing that the crew, including him, are just regular folks. When the horse gets to the Derby, Fein says his group will let the rest of the people know they are all aboard the Big Truck. Another way the Fein posse is reprising the 2003 spectacle is that Barclay Tagg trains Big Truck, as he did Funny Cide. The Big Truck followers have been friends since their teen-age years in the New York borough of Queens, not far from Belmont Park, which for them, Fein says, was a place to hang out. Fein said his dream always has been to own a horse. He got that horse through the claim box in 2003 for $30,000 and the horse paid him back $400,000. And, naturally, he was hooked. Fein is the owner of a title insurance business, EAM Land Services in Syosset, N.Y. He bought Big Truck for $90,000 at a 2-year-old-in-training sale in Maryland n 2007, and he’s the one who gave the colt his name. With Hook and Ladder as a sire, Big Truck seemed like a natural name. Echoing the Sackatoga crowd and Pegram, he emphasizes that a small guy really can into the sport of horse racing as an owner, where he can’t get into other sports, such as owning a football team.

Breeder: A. Lakin & Sons

Lakin General, LLC, is a major rubber and tire recycling company. Involved in Thoroughbred racing since 1990, the Lakins have raced graded runners including Buffalo Berry, Listen Here, No Kings, Sort It Out and Greater Good. Lakin and business partner Becky Thomas are rank near the top of the nation's pinhookers. The two and Lakin's wife, Brenda, own farms in Florida, Kentucky, and New York, on which they have about 150 broodmares. In addition, they stand several stallions at their New York operation.