Column: Wide-open Kentucky Derby has everyone dreaming

Reporting from Louisville, Ky. —  The No. 1 commodity on the backstretch during Kentucky Derby week is dreaming.

Especially this week, when there is no overwhelming favorite. There are 20 scenarios to win Saturday’s race and the one commonality is you absolutely need a good trip.

You can make a case for a lot of these horses.

The morning-line favorite at 4-1 is Classic Empire, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Throw out his third-place finish in the Holy Bull and the race he threw his jockey coming out of the gate and he’s undefeated.

There’s co-second favorite McCraken, winner of two stakes, at 5-1. Throw out his third in the Blue Grass Stakes and he’s undefeated.

At 6-1 is Irish War Cry, winner of the Wood Memorial. Throw out his seventh in the Fountain of Youth and he’s undefeated.

If you like story angles, there’s 15-1 Gunnevera, winner of three stakes including the Fountain of Youth. He was orphaned at 10 days and his trainer was kidnapped twice.

Or at 30-1 there’s Patch, a horse that’s missing his left, or inside-looking, eye, who is breaking from the farthest post on the outside.

And at 50-1 is Sonneteer, a maiden, who is trained by Keith Desormeaux, who stewarded Exaggerator to a second in last year’s Derby and a win in the Preakness.

The wiseguys on the backstretch are touting Hence at 15-1. He had the highest brisnet speed figure of any horse’s last race when he ran 41 days ago in the Sunland Derby. Sunland Derby?

Yes, lots of dreams, which leads to a horse named Always Dreaming.

He’s got a legit shot, and is the co-second favorite at 5-1. He’s won three races in a row, including the Florida Derby, beating Gunnevera and State of Honor.

One of his owners, Anthony Bonomo, presents himself as a Runyonesque kid from the streets of Brooklyn.

He was talking loudly and interestingly this week, just outside Barn 40. He was talking up military veterans, first responders and the behind-the-scenes people. The guy that was listening was Matt Bevin, governor of Kentucky.

So, when Bonomo wandered away, and only after a reporter asked him who he was, a crowd gathered to hear him give his version of some poor guy lucky enough to own a horse getting ready to run in the Kentucky Derby.

He explained why he named his son Anthony: “You know us Italians. It’s easy to remember, you just name everybody after yourself. At dinnertime, it’s easy, you just call one name.”

He explained the closeness of his old neighborhood: “Where we grew up, we were all sports nuts. We competed in a game called scully. It’s a bottle cap game. The whole neighborhood has rallied behind us. It’s been a lot of fun.”

And how he and his buddy Vinnie decided to combine their horses into one big stable: “It’s hard to sit next to your best friend and he’s the 3 [horse’s owner] and you’re the 5 and they’re turning for home and you’re quietly trying to nudge your horse but you don’t want to get him mad. And he’s an Army Ranger and I don’t want him to kill me.”

One thing about horse racing, and especially if you’re at the Kentucky Derb, it’s much more likely that the horse has a meager background than the owner.

Bonomo is a lawyer (“Don’t hold that against me”) who ran New York’s second-largest medical malpractice insurance company. He was a witness in the corruption scandal that cost state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos his job and until then had been appointed head of the New York Racing Commission.

His buddy Vinnie, is Vincent Viola, owner of the Florida Panthers. He was President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Army, but he couldn’t untangle his conflicts of interest, so he withdrew from consideration.

The pair, and some other investors, bought the horse for $350,000 as a yearling in the Keeneland September sale. Bonomo’s advisors — bloodstock agents Chris Brothers and Steve Young and New Castle Farm owner James Crupi — all had the horse on their short list.

“My son was doing the bidding [at the auction],” Bonomo said. “I was working, so I gave him his budget and thank God he went over. I could tell you two years ago on the day we bought the horse, I was really upset. You flash forward two years and I can’t kiss him enough. I don’t tell him that because he’ll think he has free rein.”

The horse is trained by Todd Pletcher (“I’ve got a great saying, ‘In Todd We Trust.’ It’s on a coin but with a different name”).

“To me it’s one of the most rewarding parts of what we do when you see the excitement that the owners get when they are involved in a race like this with a contender,” Pletcher said of Bonomo. “It’s why they are in the game. It’s why they are here. They are very excited about it. It’s fun for us to see that.”

Oh, one other angle, Pletcher is 1 for 45 in the Derby and with three horses in Saturday’s race will tie Wayne Lukas for the all-time number of Derby starters. His other horses are Tapwrit and Patch.

Bonomo’s enthusiasm is infectious and his views express those of every first-time jockey, trainer and owner at the Kentucky Derby.

“Even when you’re dreaming, you can’t dream this.”

[email protected]

@jcherwa