THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Trainer of Go For Gin Would Rather Go for the Roses Again

Trainer Nick Zito likes to give tours of his 1994 enclosed pickup truck, parked not far from his barn at Gulfstream Park.

“Want a picture of Strike The Gold?” Zito says.

He reaches into the back of the truck, for a package of about 100 winner’s circle pictures from the 1991 Kentucky Derby.

“Want me to sign one for you?” Zito says.

Zito autographs the picture.

“Can’t even tell I trained the horse,” Zito says. “You got to look close to see my hand on the far left-hand side. That’s my nose, too.”

On one knee in front of Zito, in full view, is a smartly attired man in a straw hat. He has one pair of binoculars hanging from his neck, and is looking out through another set, effectively blocking his face.

“You can ask everybody else in that picture, and not one of them knows who that guy is,” Zito says. “What would a guy be doing while they’re taking a winner’s-circle picture, looking out through a pair of binoculars?”

Zito goes to the front of the truck, opens the door and pops a cassette into the tape player. It’s a tape by John Asher, the award-winning Louisville broadcaster, of interviews before and after Strike The Gold had won the Derby, with a call of the race.

“I play it every once in a while,” Zito says. “When I’m down, this tape picks me back up.”

Zito reaches into the glove compartment and produces a letter.

“It’s from a guy in Louisville I know,” he says. “A very important guy there.”

The letter says something about The Man Upstairs asking Zito to have a seat in His living room.

“Who knows?” Zito says. “Could be an omen.”

Nicholas Philip Zito, 46, is in need of a Kentucky Derby fix. His first Derby starter, Thirty Six Red, ran ninth in 1990, and then came Strike The Gold the next year, thundering down the stretch to beat Best Pal by 1 3/4 lengths.

Six weeks before the Kentucky Derby, Strike The Gold finished second behind Fly So Free in the Florida Derby, and Zito will run a two-horse entry Saturday in the $500,000, 1 1/8-mile race. The big horse in the barn is Go For Gin, who has won three stakes, and he will be coupled with Crary, winless in three starts this year. They are the mild 3-1 morning-line favorites in what will be a capacity field of 14 3-year-olds. Actually, 15 horses were entered Thursday, but the rules restrict the field to 14, based on purses earned in graded stakes.

Allen Paulson bred and owns 50% of Crary, in partnership with Joe Cornacchio and Bill Condren, who bought Go For Gin as a yearling for $150,000. Cornacchio and Condren also raced Strike The Gold with B. Giles Brophy, a partnership that unraveled after the Derby. Because of a disagreement about the management of the horse, there were lawsuits and finally the colt was sold at auction, with Cornacchio and Condren out-bidding Brophy by paying $2.9 million. Strike The Gold won only five races, but he was a big-stakes horse and was retired to stud last year after piling up purses of $3.2 million.

Zito, caught in the middle as the owners squabbled, long ago wearied of talking about their differences.

“The sale of the horse was a stupid charade,” he said this week, happy to relay the news that P.G. Johnson, his training replacement when Brophy traveled on, had in effect fired the owner this week, citing “major philosophical differences.”

Go For Gin is a son of Cormorant and Never Knock, which makes him a half brother of Pleasant Tap in a family that includes Pleasant Colony, winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby.

“This is a very consistent horse,” said Jerry Bailey, who has ridden Go For Gin in all but one of his seven races. “He finished second last time, even though he wasn’t at his best that day.”

In his last race, the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on Feb. 19, Go For Gin came from slightly off the pace on a wet track and missed catching Dehere by three-quarters of a length. Dehere, who would have been favored in the Florida Derby, underwent surgery this week for a lower-leg fracture that will sideline him for about six months.

Go For Gin had won four consecutive races, all by comfortable margins, before the Fountain of Youth. His overall record is four victories and two seconds in seven tries. Bailey knew about the colt’s potential before he ran his first race. Last August, on the morning of the Travers at Saratoga, Bailey made a special trip to the track to ride Go For Gin in a workout. In the afternoon, Bailey won the $1-million Travers with Sea Hero, his Kentucky Derby winner.

“Jerry wouldn’t have come out that day to work just any horse,” Zito said.

Zito’s other horse, Crary, was not a priority for Craig Perret, who has opted to take Ride The Rails, the third-place finisher in the Fountain of Youth, in the Florida Derby. Zito has hired Joe Bravo to ride Crary, who had been ridden by Perret in his first six starts, including a second on Feb. 20 behind Patton, one of the fastest horses in Florida before he was injured.

Zito will split the horses after the Florida Derby, sending Crary to Keeneland for the Blue Grass Stakes on April 16 and running Go For Gin in the Wood Memorial the same day. Go For Gin might be the most important horse in the barn right now, but Sara Zito, the trainer’s 9-year-old daughter, prefers Crary.

“I call him Junior,” she said. “He looks like Strike The Gold. Only he doesn’t bite as much.”

Horse Racing Notes

There has been a lot of buzz at Gulfstream about Canaveral, unbeaten in two starts, but he probably won’t be able to run in the Florida Derby. With 15 horses entered, Canaveral wound up on the also-eligible list and needs a scratch to get in. “I’m a bit discouraged about this,” trainer Frank Brothers said. “The horse has been training very well and we were set on running. Maybe it’ll be a blessing in disguise. We’ll just have to regroup and figure another path (to the Kentucky Derby). There’s an allowance race here the last day of the meet (next Wednesday), and another possibility is the Louisiana Derby (March 19).” Canaveral probably won’t run even if another horse scratches. “That 14 hole would be a tough spot for an inexperienced horse,” Brothers said.

Here is the field, in post-position order: Line Dance, Fabulous Frolic, Crary, Ride The Rails, Amathos, Holy Bull, Halo’s Image, Dramatic Gold, Lahint, Rocky’s Halo, Mr. Angel, Lynn’s Notebook, Go For Gin and Robannier. . . . Chris McCarron, who would have ridden Dehere if he were running Saturday, has taken the mount on Lahint. . . . Trainer Mel Stute and jockey Alex Solis, who came from California to win the 1986 Florida Derby with Snow Chief, are back with Robannier. . . . Dramatic Gold, winner of the Bradbury at Santa Anita, will be ridden by Corey Black. . . . Behind the Nick Zito entry on the morning line is Holy Bull at 4-1. . . . All of the horses will carry 122 pounds.