For the second year in a row, TSR will watch the Kentucky Derby on the tube after being on site for the previous 19 consecutive runs for the roses.

The twenty 3-year-old colts running in the 2012 Derby stack up as a better-than-average group on the talent scale.  From a handicapping standpoint, it’s been intriguing the last week or two imagining how the known form of the field’s top shelf will translate into trips that unfold for them after the gates open early Saturday evening.

Traffic pitfalls always crush the hopes of at least a few of the top contenders as the race plays out.  That part of it makes it awfully tricky to pick the winner of this race.  In fact, I’ve never correctly predicted the Derby winner.  You can expect the talented sprinter Trinniberg will run way ahead of the those chasing him for the first half of the race and then peter out abruptly.  The white-as-a-ghost-colored horse Hansen will stride quickly in Trinny’s wake (along with the unusually low-to-the-ground Bodemeister) and likely find himself inheriting desirable clean airspace with about five furlongs remaining.

Hansen is a colt properly tested for this event.  He won the 2-year-old Breeder’s Cup dirt route race on the Churchill strip and seasoned for the Derby as a 3-year-old in stakes races at Gulfstream, Aqueduct and Keeneland.  Casual racing fans may know about Hansen more for his sideshow element than his racing talent.  Hansen bears the name of his eccentric, outspoken, hands-on owner Dr. Kendall Hansen.  Before each of Hansen’s last two Derby preps, the Doctor tangled with racing officials about plans to paint Hansen’s bushy tail the color blue.  Permission was firmly declined in each instance and Hansen’s tail was left to fly its natural color.

You won’t need distinctive coloring to know who’s winning this race as the final moments play out.  You’ll get that cue anyway.  It’ll be the white horse.

Here’s your TSR Derby trifecta:

Hansen

Alpha

Rousing Sermon

To add to the excitement of Derby Day, there’s a Rangers playoff game on TV early in the afternoon.  And later that night in Brooklyn, the full cast of Woods (Lucas Crane is back behind the knobs) anchors a triple bill at 285 Kent.  I’ve heard a harmonica has come out of the trick bag on this tour.  Looking forward to it.

Happy Derby Day.