Only Weights Will Be the Same for Horses in Blue Grass Stakes : Horse racing: Jockey shake-up has only one colt with a familiar rider for the Kentucky Derby prep Saturday.

An odd thing about Saturday’s $500,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland is that, with one exception, each horse will be ridden by a jockey who didn’t have the mount in the horse’s previous race.

“With all these pilot switches, who knows what’s going to happen?” said John Ward Jr., who trains Jambalaya Jazz, the 5-1 fourth choice in the six-horse field.

Thunder Gulch, winner of the Florida Derby and the 8-5 favorite, will be ridden by Pat Day, Keeneland’s stakes leader. Day, who has never ridden Thunder Gulch, got the assignment from trainer Wayne Lukas because Mike Smith, who’s two for two on the colt, will be at Hot Springs, Ark., riding Concern in the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap. Smith has won the last two runnings of the Blue Grass, with Holy Bull and Prairie Bayou.

Suave Prospect, beaten by a neck and a nose by Thunder Gulch in their two meetings at Gulfstream Park this winter, will be ridden by Julie Krone. Suave Prospect’s trainer, Nick Zito, has had a falling out with Jerry Bailey, who rode the horse in his last three races. Bailey will be in Arkansas on Saturday to ride Cigar in the Oaklawn Handicap.

Bailey’s absence also accounts for Mickey Walls taking over on Tejano Run in the Blue Grass. Bailey has been aboard Tejano Run for six of his seven races, and Walls has never ridden the colt.

Completing the round of musical saddles, Sam Maple becomes the third jockey in as many races for Jambalaya Jazz, and Randy Romero will be riding Wild Syn, with Krone coming off. The only jockey assignment intact for the Blue Grass is Gary Boulanger, who will ride Gadzook for the third consecutive race.

When entries for the 1 1/8-mile race were taken Thursday, Wild Syn, who is expected to go to the lead, drew the No. 1 post and was listed at 12-1 on the morning line. Next to him in the gate, in order, will be Suave Prospect, 2-1; Tejano Run, 5-2; Thunder Gulch, 8-5; Jambalaya Jazz, 5-1; and Gadzook, 20-1. All horses will carry 121 pounds and a fast track is expected.

Zito, winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1991 with Strike The Gold and with Go For Gin last year, criticized Bailey, who he said wasn’t forthright about which horse he would be riding Saturday.

“I waited and waited to give Jerry extra time to make the decision,” Zito said. “Then I have to find out from the owner of Cigar (Allen Paulson) that Jerry’s going to ride in the Oaklawn Handicap.”

Zito said Bailey’s conduct is common among other leading jockeys.

“Do these guys own the game?” he asked. “The last time I checked, the name of the game was horse racing. The horses are the stars of the show. Part of the problem is the stewards, who won’t hold the riders to their commitments when they try to break them.”

If Mike Smith hadn’t chosen Concern at Oaklawn Park, he could have ridden either Thunder Gulch in the Blue Grass or Talkin Man, the 4-5 favorite in the $500,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Lukas said that Talkin Man’s trainer, Roger Attfield, wanted a signed contract from Smith before he would give him the assignment for the Wood. Shane Sellers rides Saturday, but Attfield said that Smith would be the colt’s jockey in the Derby.

Jockeys rarely sign contracts to ride horses in specific races, but Joe Cornacchia, one of the owners of Strike The Gold and Go For Gin, believes it would be a good idea.

“Give the trainer a batch of standard contracts,” Cornacchia said. “Then have him hand one to the jock or the jock’s agent when a big race comes up.”

Zito said that Chris McCarron handled his business properly when it was time for Go For Gin to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year at Churchill Downs. McCarron had ridden Go For Gin to victory in the Derby and to second in both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, but the horse tailed off late in the year.

“Chris was up front with me about the Breeders’ Cup,” Zito said. “He told me he thought he was going to ride a horse from Europe in the race. The horse didn’t run, but by that time I had already given out the call to Laffit Pincay.”

There have been suggestions that Bailey lost the mounts on Suave Prospect and Concern because he was president of the Jockeys’ Guild, which was involved in a bitter, year-end dispute with racetracks over health and accident insurance.

“That’s got nothing to do with my situation,” Zito said. “I was in favor of what the jocks were fighting for. . . . “

Santa Anita-based Chris Antley, who won the ’91 Derby with Strike The Gold, was Zito’s first choice to ride Suave Prospect, but Antley was hung up because of the possibility that Petionville might run in the Wood. As it turned out, Petionville ran in the Santa Anita Derby instead, finishing a poor seventh.

In hiring Krone, Zito took a jockey who will soon become the first woman to ride 3,000 winners. She became the fourth woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby when she finished 14th with Ecstatic Ride in 1992, and she became the first female to win a Triple Crown race with Colonial Affair in the Belmont in 1993. She won the Lafayette Stakes here Wednesday with the Zito-trained Mr. Greeley.

“I know I’m riding this horse by default,” Krone said. “But riding for this team gives you confidence. I can’t think of anybody better to go to the Derby with than Nick Zito.”

Because of his dark glasses, Wayne Lukas reminds Zito of a famous movie character.

“I’m trying to beat Darth Vader again,” Zito said. “And Little Red Riding Hood’s going to help me this time.”

Horse Racing Notes

Besides Talkin Man, others running in the Wood are El Alpino, Knockadoon, Moonlight Dancer, Key Guy, Is Sveikatas, Candy Cone and Kresa. Key Guy is the second choice at 4-1. Devious Course, who finished third, far behind Talkin Man, in the Gotham, won’t run because a minor eye injury. . . . Concern and his entrymate, Sticks And Bricks, are 2-1 in the Oaklawn Handicap. Cigar is 5-2, followed by Best Pal at 7-2 and Urgent Request, 4-1. Urgent Request and Best Pal finished 1-2, separated by a head, in the Santa Anita Handicap. Concern will carry 122 pounds, Best Pal 121, Cigar 120 and Urgent Request 118. Other entered are Silver Goblin and Johann Quatz.

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Blue Grass Field

Post positions for Saturday’s $500,000 Blue Grass Stakes for 3-year-olds:

PP Horse Jockey Wt. Odds 1. Wild Syn Romero 121 12 2. Suave Prospect Krone 121 2 3. Tejano Run Walls 121 5-2 4. Thunder Gulch Day 121 8-5 5. Jambalaya Jazz Maple 121 5 6. Gadzook Boulanger 121 20