KENTUCKY DERBY : Inside Job Is the Toughest : Horse racing: Wood winner Storm Tower draws No. 1 post. Personal Hope is in No. 7 spot.

When Jerry Botts, Churchill Downs’ vice president for racing, announced Thursday that Personal Hope had drawn the No. 7 post position for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, a howl went up from the back of the crowd in the Derby Museum.

Derby participants sweat more over post positions for the race than they do over their veterinarians’ X-rays. Presumably, the reaction to Personal Hope’s draw came from the Santa Anita Derby winner’s owners, Lee and Debi Lewis. With the other blinding speed in the race, Wood Memorial winner Storm Tower, having drawn No. 1, Gary Stevens aboard Personal Hope will be in a good position to assess what Storm Tower is doing.

Even for a speed horse like Storm Tower, the inside is not favorable. Ferdinand, in 1986, became the first Derby winner from No. 1 in 23 years, but only after the colt and jockey Bill Shoemaker had been crowded into the fence in the long run to the first turn. Shoemaker said that at one point, he thought that Ferdinand might wind up in the Churchill Downs infield.

“I said that there were two posts I didn’t want--the 1 or the 19,” said Charles Hesse III, one of Storm Tower’s owners. “But I’d rather have the 1 than the 19.”

Another disadvantage in drawing No. 1 is that a horse has a long wait in the gate while the 18 other horses are being loaded. Storm Tower is not considered an anxious gate horse and Churchill Downs’ assistant-starter crew is reportedly the best in the country at loading horses quickly.

Whenever a near-capacity field enters the Derby, horsemen inevitably complain about some of the horses not belonging. Ben Perkins Jr., who trains Storm Tower, has an idea that might discourage undistinguished horses from making the trip to Louisville just for the sake of running in the Derby.

“Put in a rule that says all field horses must start from the auxiliary gate,” Perkins said. “If a guy suspected that he was going to wind up in the field and had to start from that outside gate, he might not come to run.”

A mutuel field horse is given the least likely chance of winning according to the track handicapper. There are seven field horses in this year’s Derby.

The problem with Perkins’ suggestion is that if the rule were installed, who would want the heavy responsibility of designating the field horses? As it is, the worst thing about being in the field is the possible harm to an owner or trainer’s ego. When the late Laz Barrera trained Paris Prince, he was incensed that Churchill Downs put the California Derby winner in the field in 1983. Paris Prince ran 10th.

Field horses are routinely bet down by horseplayers, not so much because of their qualifications, but because a bettor gets several horses for the price of one.

The only field horses to have won the Derby were Canonero II in 1971 and Count Turf in 1951.

The best horses in this year’s mutuel field are Tossofthecoin and El Bakan, who were second in Derby preps in their most recent starts.

Tossofthecoin, recently sold to Sidney and Jenny Craig for about $1 million, worked three furlongs Thursday in :36 4/5.

“Our post position is perfect,” trainer Ray Bell said. “He’s dead fit, and I’m not worried about him liking the track. In his nine races (over five tracks), he’s never disliked a track. Storm Tower’s a nice horse, but he had everything his way in the Wood. The track was favoring speed all day, and nobody gave him a run early.”

Tossofthecoin was second, beaten by two lengths in the Wood.

The last time Bell was at the Derby, his father, Tom Bell, saddled Rumbo, who ran second behind the filly, Genuine Risk, in 1980.

Genuine Risk, by the way, is in foal to Rahy and perhaps only days away from producing her first foal. Early in her retirement, Genuine Risk was bred twice to Secretariat, another Derby winner, but was never able to complete the pregnancy.

Dixieland Heat’s Derby chances were devastated Thursday when the Louisiana Derby winner drew the No. 15 post position, the first stall in the auxiliary gate.

“There’s enough room between gates for about three stalls,” said Pat Valenzuela, who rides Union City in the Derby.

Consequently, Dixieland Heat will be breaking from the equivalent of the 18th stall.

“I’m disappointed,” trainer Gerald Romero said. “But that’s the luck of the draw. When they said No. 15, my wife (Mona) started crying. I told her to stop, because she was making me cry.”

Horse Racing Notes

Loblolly Stable, which has favored Prairie Bayou running in the Derby, decided against running stablemate Marked Tree. “He’s run a lot this year, and we’re going to give him more time,” trainer Tom Bohannan said. “He’s a candidate for the Preakness (at Pimlico on May 15). . . . Prairie Bayou drew the No. 5 post. . . . Bohannan said that Dalhart, a disappointment as the favorite in the Arkansas Derby, is going to get “some rest and recuperation.”

Loblolly’s Aztec Hill, winner of the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park in Little Rock on April 9, has the best chance of beating Eliza in today’s $250,000 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Eliza has five victories, a second and a third in seven starts and the purse from a third-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby moved her over the $1-million mark in earnings. . . . Other stakes on the Churchill card today are the $150,000 Louisville Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 Early Times Turf Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race.

Lure, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile last year and a winner at Keeneland in his first 1993 race, is favored in the Turf Classic. Star Of Cozzene, the California shipper, is among his seven opponents, along with Paradise Creek, winner of last year’s Hollywood Derby. . . . Looie Capote, second to Paseana in the Apple Blossom Handicap, is in the 12-horse field in the Louisville Handicap.

The weather forecast for today and Saturday in Louisville is partly cloudy with temperatures near 70 degrees. . . . Julie Krone rode Traverse City to victory in Thursday’s $50,000 La Troienne Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Added Asset lost by a head, and it was another two lengths back to Bellewood in third place. Blue Moonlight was in contention until mid-stretch before finishing off the board.

The Field

The field for Saturday’s 119th Kentucky Derby, with post position, horse, jockey and odds:

No. Horse Jockey Odds 1. Storm Tower Wilson 9-2 2. Kissin Kris Santos 30-1 3. f-Truth Of It All Velasquez 8-1 4. Union City Valenzuela 8-1 5. Prairie Bayou Smith 5-2 6. Sea Hero Bailey 30-1 7. Personal Hope Stevens 7-2 8. Rockamundo Borel 20-1 9. f-Silver Of Silver Vasquez 8-1 10. Bull Inthe Heather Ramos 10-1 11. f-Tossofthecoin Pincay 8-1 12. f-Mi Cielo Gryder 8-1 13. f-Wild Gale Sellers 8-1 14. f-Ragtime Rebel Lester 8-1 15. Dixieland Heat Romero 15-1 16. Wallenda Day 15-1 17. a-Corby McCarron 12-1 18. a-Diazo Desormeaux 12-1 19. f-El Bakan Perret 8-1

a-Allen Paulsen owned entry. f-mutuel field.

Trainers (by post position): 1. Ben Perkins, Jr. 2. David Bell. 3. Sheldon Wolfe. 4. Wayne Lukas. 5. Tom Bohannan. 6. Mack Miller. 7. Mark Henning. 8. Oris Glass, Jr. 9. Stanley Shapoff. 10. Howard Tesher. 11. Tom Bell. 12. Peter Vestal. 13. Michael Doyle. 14. Cliff Darnell. 15. Gerald Romero. 16. Frank Alexander. 17. John Sadler. 18. Bill Shoemaker. 19. Alfredo Callejas.

Weights: Each 126 pounds. Distance: 1 1/4 miles. Purse: $985,900 if 19 start. First place: $735,900. Second place: $145,000. Third place: $70,000. Fourth place: $35,000. Post time: 2:38 p.m. PDT.

* HOT SEAT

Little-known jockey Wigberto Ramos of Panama will ride Bull Inthe Heather in his Kentucky Derby debut. C10