Black trainer Larry Demeritte brings his $11,000 horse to the Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – If Larry Demeritte is searching for positive signs ahead of his first Kentucky Derby as a trainer, that is where his horse is assigned.

The longtime West Saratoga competitor resides in Barn 42 at Churchill Downs, the same location that housed Seattle Slew before he won the 1977 Derby and captured the Triple Crown. This was the first Derby during which Demeritte took part.

He is now the second black trainer since 1951 to saddle a horse in the one hundred and fiftieth Derby on Saturday. The second, Hank Allen, finished sixth in 1989 with the Northern Wolf team.

Black coaches dominated the Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first 17 between 1875 and 1891.

“We are so grateful to be here and enjoy every minute of it,” Demeritte said.

For the 74-year-old from the Bahamas, all the pieces has mattered since he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and underwent chemotherapy. His father was a coach in the islands, and Dermeritte still has the accent of his native country, where he was a number one coach for 2 years.

“My motto is: ‘I do not buy low cost horses. I purchase good horses cheaply,” he said with a smile.

Purchased for $11,000, West Saratoga is the pride of the 11-horse Demeritte stable at The Thoroughbred Center in nearby Lexington. The stallion earned $460,140.

“He’s getting better with every start,” he said. “I’ve been around a lot of good horses and this horse is really up there with a lot of them.”

The costliest horse in the 20-horse Derby is second-choice morning horse Sierra Leone, purchased for $2.3 million.

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This is owner Harry Veruchi’s first derby.

“I bought my first horse in 1982, and two weeks later he won at Centennial Race Track in Littleton, Colorado,” Veruchi said. “I believed: This is straightforward. Now, being here, who would have thought of it? I do not know anyone who has run in the Kentucky Derby, and even anyone who has won a graded stakes.

West Saratoga is known as after the street in Littleton where Veruchi grew up. It is positioned six blocks from the Centennial track, which closed in 1983.

The just one of their group with any Derby experience is jockey Jesus Castanon. In 2011 aboard Shackleford he finished fourth. They set the pace and led at the eighth pole, only to be overtaken by the eventual winner Animal Kingdom.

“I thought I was going to win it,” Castanon said. “I was going crazy in my mind.”

Demeritte has led horses in the Derby in recent times.

“I’ve been practicing,” he said, his smile revealing the gap in his front teeth. “I used to pray to get to the Derby. I feel blessed with this horse.”

Demeritte looks to the sky on Saturday, when the forecast calls for a 43% likelihood of rain. The gray stallion never ran on a wet track, but his father did.

Exaggerator finished second in the 2016 Derby and went on to win the Preakness and Haskell. Both races took place on uneven tracks.

“It’s really amazing how we managed to get this position on this horse,” Demeritte said. “I hope people see our history and take an interest in the sport because this horse proves that anyone with a dream can get on the Derby stage.”