Winning Colors Doesn’t Scare Him

Said Woody Stephens, trainer of Forty Niner, when the New York Times asked him about the chances of Winning Colors, the Wayne Lukas-trained filly, in the Kentucky Derby: “I can’t see her winning the Derby. It’s a weak kind of year and I might run a filly if I had one, but this one won’t get the money. Look what happened the last time Lukas tried me with a filly.”

The year was 1984, and the winner was Swale, trained by Stephens. The favorite was Althea, a Lukas-trained filly. She finished 19th.

Add Derby: There are some trainers who claim that too much importance is placed on the race, but John Veitch says: “I would rather win the Kentucky Derby than any other race in America, because when you walk into a bar and you tell someone you’re a horse trainer, they go, ‘You ever win the Derby?’ ”

An item in this space Monday speculated that the Raiders’ Steve Beuerlein would be given a single-digit number to make him look taller. In light of that, why do you think Jeff Stone, who wore No. 35 at Philadelphia, requested No. 1 when he was traded to Baltimore?

“No. 1 makes me look smaller and faster,” Stone said.

Trivia Time: If St. Louis Cardinals reliever Scott Terry hadn’t given up that single to Kirk Gibson at Dodger Stadium Sunday, would he and John Tudor have recorded the first combined no-hitter in history? (Answer below.)

Said Larry Bird after Dennis Johnson took New York rookie Mark Jackson to school as the Boston Celtics knocked off the Knicks twice at Boston Garden: “I think everybody knows what DJ means to us. Like I’ve said before, he’s the best player I’ve ever played alongside. DJ has always risen to the occasion. He knows what to do in the playoffs.”

Ouch: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, on the hot-dogging of Detroit’s Dennis Rodman: “Rodman is the kind of guy you have in mind when you see an open manhole.”

Add Kornheiser: Commenting on the slowness of Detroit center Bill Laimbeer, he said, “He’s moving like he’s way overdue for the 40,000-mile Jiffy Lube job.”

Trivia Answer: No. On Sept. 28, 1975, four Oakland pitchers combined on a no-hitter to beat the Angels, 5-0. They were Vida Blue (5 innings), Glenn Abbott (1 inning), Paul Lindblad (1 inning) and Rollie Fingers (2 innings).

Quotebook

Sparky Lyle, former New York Yankees pitcher, on Yogi Berra: “Yogi’s supposed to have said a lot of funny things, but I don’t know how anybody hears the funny things he says, because he doesn’t talk.”