LOUISVILLE, Ky. — About 10 years ago, trainer Rick Dutrow Jr.’s address was Barn 1, Tack Room D, Aqueduct Racetrack, New York.
Park Avenue, it wasn’t.
“I loved it,” he said, a hardy laugh following. “I was right there in the barn with my horses. I had my microwave set up. I was good. Really. If I lost everything and had to do it again, I’m there.”
From there to here, Dutrow has emerged as one of the nation’s top trainers. He also happens to have the expected favorite for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby in unbeaten Big Brown. And Dutrow doesn’t think his 3-year-old bay colt can lose.
“I feel very confident that if Big Brown breaks with the field, he’s going to run a big race,” he said. “I just haven’t seen any other horse with my eyes that can beat him.”
Dutrow held center stage for more than 30 minutes Tuesday morning at the media center on the backside of Churchill Downs. While it was chilly outside, Dutrow was inside warming a crowd of about 75 people with tales of his struggles, suspensions and social life.
He said the hardest part of his job is waking up at 4:30 every morning, “because I like to hang out with my people, and I can’t be doing that all the time.” Of his numerous suspensions, many for medication violations, Dutrow said: “Half of them I deserved, half of ’em I didn’t.” Asked if he ever brought women back to his digs at Aqueduct, his eyes brightened, he smiled and then answered.
“Yeah,” he said. “If I wanted to take out some girl, she’d say, ‘Where am I going to meet you?’ I’d say, ‘Meet me at the barn.’
“Actually, I never should leave the barn, because when I leave the barn that’s when trouble starts.”
Kent Desormeaux will be aboard Big Brown.
“All I know is the man has got Big Brown and he’s got to be really, really thrilled,” Desormeaux said of Dutrow. “We’re the two happiest guys on the racetrack planet right now.”
Dutrow sure sounded that way Tuesday.
