THE KENTUCKY DERBY : Who Will Give the Filly a Run for the Money? : In Early Going, Plan May Be for Forty Niner to Soften Up Winning Colors for the Rest

One of the many questions concerning today’s 114th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs is whether trainer Woody Stephens will try to send Forty Niner after the filly, Winning Colors, in the early going, thereby softening her up for the others when the real running starts.

Gene Klein, the cocksure owner of Winning Colors, questions whether any horse in the field is good enough to run with his filly early, but Charlie Hadry, the trainer of Private Terms, the undefeated Derby favorite, figures that someone, Stephens or someone else, will take the filly on. But Hadry says it won’t be his horse.

As for Stephens, can he tell one owner, Seth Hancock of Forty Niner, that he’s going to sacrifice that horse in an attempt to set up a win for the late-running Cefis, who is trained by Stephens but owned by people other than Hancock?

“Woody’s capable of telling Seth one thing and then doing something else,” said one trainer familiar with Kentucky equine politics. “Seth practically fired Woody when Devil’s Bag got hurt and Swale won the Derby in 1984. They work together, but I don’t think there’s much love lost between the two of them.”

It was Hancock who decided to replace Eddie Maple, Stephens’ regular rider, with Pat Day on Forty Niner two races back. Forty Niner had won four stakes with Maple. With Day, the colt was first and second in two starts at Keeneland last month.

Stephens may tell Hancock one thing, then try to do something else and be unable to, since Forty Niner drew the outside post position in the 17-horse field.

Gary Jones, whose Stalwars was scratched from the Derby because of a high temperature, believes that the race is too wide-open to call, but he doesn’t discount Forty Niner.

“There’s a long run to that first turn,” Jones said. “That should give Forty Niner enough time to come over and get close to the filly.”

Klein, whose filly drew the No. 11 post, disagrees. “If we lose, we should have no excuses,” the former owner of the San Diego Chargers said. “I think Forty Niner’s too far out to bother us, and I wonder if he could, anyhow.

“And the only horse inside us who has any speed is Din’s Dancer (No. 9), and I wonder if he’s got enough quality speed to do it.”

Klein said that his trainer, Wayne Lukas, had received a recent offer for Winning Colors and turned it down without even asking the owner.

“I don’t even know how much it was, I didn’t ask Wayne,” said Klein, who reportedly turned down a $5-million bid for Lady’s Secret, the eventual horse of the year, before she won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita in 1986.

There are the usual backstretch rumors regarding Derby horses, and one that surfaced Friday pertained to Winning Colors, who was standing in her stall wearing what appeared to be a respirator on her nose and mouth.

“Wayne uses that gadget on all his horses,” Klein said. “There’s nothing wrong with her. She galloped the strongest mile you could ask for and she’s coming up to the race perfectly.”

Winning Colors shouldered 140 pounds Friday, carrying Dallas Stewart, one of Lukas’ assistants, but will have to carry only 121, including jockey Gary Stevens, in the Derby. That’s 5 pounds less than the 15 colts and 1 gelding will have to tote.

A crowd of 125,000 or more is expected for the 1-mile, $786,200 race, which has a 2:33 p.m., PDT, post time and will be run on a fast track for the 18th straight year. No rain and temperatures in the mid-80s are forecast.

Private Terms, who will try to prevent Winning Colors from becoming the third filly to win the Derby, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, with Klein’s horse at 3-1.

Private Terms, with Donnie Smith--his regular exercise rider--in the saddle, worked a slow :39 1/5 for 3 furlongs early Friday morning.

“You don’t have to break records (in the morning),” Hadry said of Private Terms’ workout. “This horse already has a good bottom (foundation). My horses have good bottoms when they run.”

Stephens, trying to win his third Derby, has been talking out of both sides of his mouth for a week about whether a filly belongs in this race. Originally, he said that Winning Colors didn’t belong and wouldn’t win.

A day later, he said: “If I had a good one, I’d run her. This year, these horses are a different breed of cats (meaning a mediocre crop). I’ve always regretted not splitting up Heavenly Cause and De La Rose and running one of them in the Derby.”

In 1981, Stephens ran 1-2 with Heavenly Cause and De La Rose in the Kentucky Oaks, the race for 3-year-old fillies that is run the day before the Derby.

Derby betting opened Friday at Churchill Downs, with about $745,000--approximately 10% of the eventual total--going through the windows. By $5,000, Winning Colors is the early wagering favorite, although both she and Risen Star were supported to the tune of 3-1.

Surprisingly, the money bet on Private Terms Friday left him at 6-1 as the distant third choice. It may be just as well not to be the Derby favorite. The last public choice to win was Spectacular Bid in 1979, and only one favorite since then has finished as high as third.