TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

REMARKS: When Larry Snyder won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award at Santa Anita earlier this year, the joke going around was that if George Woolf were still alive, he would be eligible for the Larry Snyder Award.

Larry Snyder, 46, really isn’t that old. But he will probably be the oldest jockey in this year’s Kentucky Derby, which will be run at Churchill Downs on May 6.

Snyder is just happy to be going to Louisville with a live mount. He won the Arkansas Derby last Saturday with Dansil, and although no one is suggesting that the colt’s race was better than Easy Goer’s victory in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, Snyder at least has a Kentucky Derby colt who is capable of hitting the board.

Despite riding almost 6,000 winners and having won the most races at Oaklawn Park, Snyder was zero for nine in the Arkansas Derby until he and Dansil were able to out-game Clever Trevor in a long stretch drive. Snyder has ridden in the Kentucky Derby only twice, finishing 13th with Nostalgia at 40-1 in 1977 and running 19th in 1981 with Top Avenger, another longshot, after they had led for six furlongs with one of the fastest early paces in Derby history.

Snyder’s best chance to win the Kentucky Derby ended before he even got to Louisville. In 1983, he rode Sunny’s Halo for trainer David Cross, winning the Rebel Handicap at Oaklawn by three lengths.

Sunny’s Halo was going to be the favorite for the Arkansas Derby three weeks later, but Cross wanted to make a rider change. It might have had something to do with Snyder whipping the colt too much in the Rebel. After Angel Cordero asked too high a price to ride Sunny’s Halo, Cross hired Eddie Delahoussaye. Sunny’s Halo became the only horse to win the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby.

“I was 99% certain that I would ride Sunny’s Halo in the Arkansas Derby,” Snyder said. “But that 1% killed my chances.”

Snyder rode Dansil twice as a 2-year-old, winning a minor stake on the grass at Louisiana Downs, but after that the mount was passed around, from Laffit Pincay to Don Brumfield to Pat Day. Western Playboy and Houston are other Kentucky Derby candidates that Day has ridden, but he’ll be aboard the heavy favorite, Easy Goer at the Derby.

Two Derby hopefuls--Dispersal and Majesty’s Imp--are running today at Keeneland in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington Stakes. After the race, the only prep left is the one-mile Derby Trial at Churchill Downs Saturday, when Houston will try to recover from his fifth-place finish as the 9-10 favorite in the Santa Anita Derby.

Even assuming that Dispersal, Majesty’s Imp and Houston run, the Derby will have a relatively small field. Easy Goer, Sunday Silence, Western Playboy, Dansil, Clever Trevor, Irish Actor, Hawkster and Wind Splitter are definite, with Awe Inspiring, Open Mind, Rock Point, Faultless Ensign and Northern Wolf being other candidates. Wind Splitter, who needed a stewards’ disqualification Sunday to beat a 20-1 shot in an allowance race at Pimlico, is a 3-year-old gelding who was claimed last year for $23,500. In the only two major races of his career, Northern Wolf has been beaten by 45 lengths. There are a couple in every crowd.

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Lenny Hale, vice president for racing at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga; Frank (Jimmy) Kilroe, vice president for racing at Santa Anita; and Tommy Trotter, racing secretary at Gulfstream Park.

TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS

Career Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Easy Goer 9 7 2 0 $1,240,890 2. Sunday Silence 6 4 2 0 406,100 3. Western Playoff 9 4 4 0 669,541 4. Awe Inspiring 7 5 0 0 278,220 5. Dansil 13 7 3 1 449,033 6. Dispersal 4 3 1 0 176,263 7. Houston 4 3 0 0 109,100 8. Rock Point 12 3 2 1 290,864 9. Clever Trevor 12 8 2 0 418,318 10. Open Mind 9 7 2 0 1,000,844