Zito Provides Added Incentive for Strike The Gold’s Rider

Trainer Nick Zito isn’t going to win any motivational awards for his treatment of jockey Chris Antley, who is riding Zito’s horse, Strike The Gold, in today’s 117th Kentucky Derby.

Antley has finished no higher than ninth in two Derby rides and has a history of erratic behavior, including suspensions for substance abuse and careless riding.

“He’s a fearless jockey,” Zito told John Phillips of the Reuters news service. “He has no brains. That’s why he’s a good jockey. The only thing I can do is kill him if he screws up. I can run him over with my truck.”

Zito was joking, obviously. No harm in hiding those ignition keys, though.

Earth to MacTavish II: There were questions raised concerning comments made in Wednesday’s briefing by Edmonton’s Craig MacTavish, who claimed the Oilers were Smythe Division champions because they had won the divisional playoff series against the Kings.

“We’re happy that when we skate onto the ice in Los Angeles, we won’t have to hear anymore, ‘The Smythe Division champion Los Angeles Kings,’ ” MacTavish said. “They had it for a week; we’ll have it for a year.”

It was suggested here that MacTavish, who does not wear a helmet, may have taken one too many pucks to the head.

Others, however, called in to support MacTavish’s claim.

The facts: According to Gary Meagher of the NHL’s publicity office, the Kings are Smythe Division champions in 1990-91 based on their regular-season title.

“The Kings are the only team that can put a banner up that says ‘Smythe Division Champions,’ ” Meagher said. “If Edmonton puts one up, it has to say ‘Smythe Division Playoff Champions.’ ”

Trivia time: Who was on deck in 1951 when Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants hit his pennant-winning home run against the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds?

Sure, but is he good?Who needs eight other guys hanging around when you have Mark Lawrence, a 17-year-old high school baseball player from Milford, Ohio?

Lawrence, who is ambidextrous, plays the outfield left-handed, plays shortstop right-handed and pitches both ways, alternating every start.

“Dad kept telling me I could be different and unique,” Lawrence told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Upstaged: Nolan Ryan and Rickey Henderson provided two of the most dramatic same-day baseball performances in recent memory Wednesday, Ryan upstaging Henderson’s base-stealing record with his seventh no-hitter later that night.

Former Angel Rod Carew and New York Yankee announcer Phil Rizzuto know what it’s like to share the spotlight. On Aug. 4, 1985, Carew recorded his 3,000th hit on the same day Tom Seaver won his 300th game. Seaver, pitching for the Chicago White Sox, beat the Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Phil Rizzuto Day.

Trivia answer: Willie Mays. With first base open, Dodger Manager Charlie Dressen elected not to walk Thomson and put the potential winning run on first base. Dressen instead summoned Ralph Branca in from the bullpen to pitch to Thomson. The rest is history. Branca, by the way, wore uniform No. 13.

Quotebook: Harry Ornest, former owner of the St. Louis Blues, on owner Norman Green of the Minnesota North Stars: “He’s self-effacing, modest, unassuming, bereft of ego, warm, gentle. But he makes up for it in incompetence.”