Paul Moran's Derby Beat: Colonel John

Calm settles over the Churchill Downs backstretch on Friday. The work is done, the atmosphere subdued. The cards dealt in the draw for post position on Wednesday are face up on the table. There is nothing to do except to wait and consider the possibilities. Friday morning is a deep breath waiting to be exhaled.

Oaks Day has its own flavor. The best three-year-old fillies in training – with the exception of the one who will run tomorrow in the 134st Kentucky Derby -- are the center of attention today. On an overcast, humid morning, the resident barn cats are unusually active. Rain is in the forecast later in the day, but when?

Barclay Tagg, with Tale of Ekati and Big Truck having completed the morning’s exercise, is asked how he believes the Derby will develop.

“I have no clue,” he says. “I don’t think anyone does, except Rick Dutrow.”

Asked what he hopes to see, Tagg said: “My two horses finish in a dead heat for win.”

At barn 22, Dutrow, who has displayed more confidence than any trainer of a Derby starter since the equally outspoken Bud Delp brought Spectacular Bid to the 1979 edition, has an eye on Big Brown, who is being led around the shedrow. Twenty-four hours after a sharp, three-furlong work, the morning-line favorite appears calm and relaxed. The media crush has thinned. The stories have been written, the interviews taped. In about 36 hours, over a span of about two minutes, the vernal drama’s final act will play out with the world watching, the chance of a lifetime seized by one, lost to 19.

Todd Pletcher’s barn, where Monba and Cowboy Cal await the test at hand, is quiet. So is Eoin Harty’s, where Colonel John, who may be the favorite by the time betting is closed, is at rest in his stall. After the work, the preparation and the competition that has led all those, horses and the people to whom they are tethered, there is nothing left except the wait.

In the soft morning sun, the colt that stood and observed the traffic at Churchill Downs was almost translucent, his burnished, dappled colt stretched over rippling muscles, reflecting the light.

Colonel John turned left and jogged clockwise into the first turn. When he turned to begin what was no more than a routine morning gallop, he looked like a coiled spring – a big, coiled spring -- an explosion in waiting.

At barn 41, where Colonel John is in residence while awaiting the chance of a lifetime, an easel holds a framed poster: “Colonel John Marches On,” the headline reads; at the bottom, a combat helmet emblazoned with the logo of WinStar Farm.

Representatives of Colonel John’s breeder and owner distributed Colonel John buttons and a pamphlet: Official Field Guide to Kentucky Derby 134. Inside, details of Colonel John’s combat history (race record), family members (pedigree) and squad leaders (connections). For the record, the son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow and the Turkoman mare Sweet Dreams, is named in honor of John Geider, a Lieutenant Colonel is the U.S. Army Reserve, veteran of 28 years of active duty and now head of security of transportation for Kenny Troutt, co-owner of WinStar. All this may also be found at www.coloneljohn2008.com.

Churchill is the first racetrack at which Colonel John has been seen outside California, where he has won three stakes including the Grade I Santa Anita Derby, a victory that has entrenched him firmly among the leading figures in this Derby. To say he looks the part does not do justice. He is an imposing, long-striding colt who, though he has raced exclusively over the synthetic tracks on the West Coast, appears perfectly comfortable on the dirt course here.

“He exudes confidence,” trainer Eoin Harty said as Colonel John walked the shedrow post-gallop. “The way he moves. The way he carries himself. He gives me confidence. I’m just happy to have a horse with this kind of ability.”

Colonel John is Harty’s first Derby starter, but this is far from his first Derby experience, having been exposed to the glare while an assistant to Bob Baffert, trainer of winners Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem from 17 Derby starters. He knows the drill

“Maybe rookie of the year?” Harty said.

Entirely possible.