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Juvenile champ to battle long odds in Louisville classic

Richard Mandella is taking aim at a jinx that long has stymied horses in the Kentucky Derby.

He will saddle Action This Day, last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, on Saturday in the 130th Derby. The Juvenile winner has never won on the first Saturday in May in 19 tries.

"I don't pay any attention to that kind of stuff," Mandella said. "I'm not going to offer to give the Breeders' Cup Juvenile back for it. We'll just do the best we can."

Helping Mandella's bid to win the Derby for the first time is his other starter Minister Eric, second in the Juvenile last October.

A Derby victory would cap an impressive five-month run for the 54-year-old Mandella, who won four Breeders' Cup races last year at his home base of Santa Anita. He also saddled Pleasantly Perfect to victory in the US$6 million Dubai World Cup in March.

"The Derby is a special race. It's not supposed to be easy to win," he said. "I've trained for 30 years now and haven't got close. Maybe there's a jinx on me."

Action This Day and Minister Eric will be Mandella's fifth and sixth Derby starters. His best finish was fifth in 1994 with Soul of the Matter.

Mandella believes Action This Day is flourishing after failing to win in three starts this year. The colt was last year's 2-year-old champion.

Action This Day had an especially bad trip in the San Felipe Stakes in March, where he was seventh, beaten by 9 1/2 lengths by Preachinathebar, who won't be in the Derby. Action This Day was cut on his right ankle in a traffic jam on the first turn.

Then he finished sixth in the Blue Grass Stakes. Action This Day experienced soreness in his back and hind quarters, so Mandella pampered him in an effort to ease the pain.

The colt underwent chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture, ultrasound, massage, steam bath, and sauna.

"It might have been sneaking up on him after he got cut down in the San Felipe Stakes. It was just subtle enough that we couldn't catch it and after the Blue Grass we did," Mandella said. "He's responded very well. I think he'll run his best race this weekend."

He still wishes he could get one more start before Saturday.

"They won't move the Derby back for me," he said.

Minister Eric also has raced three times this year. He won just once, in an allowance race at Keeneland on April 14. Mandella chose the soft race as a final prep for Minister Eric because the colt had already earned enough money to guarantee a spot in the Derby.

"Minister Eric has kind of got his legs under him now and is in his best form," Mandella said.

The Derby field is limited to 20 starters who have the highest earnings in graded stakes races. Minister Eric easily qualified with US$350,000. Action This Day has earned US$780,000, second only to The Cliff's Edge with US$793,258.

Over the last 10 years, the Derby has averaged 16.9 starters.
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