TRIPLE CROWN RATINGS : Poetic Justice for In Character?

Trainer Bruce Jackson wanted to do the right thing.

Jackson thought he had rehired Corey Nakatani to ride In Character for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, even though the trainer believed that Nakatani’s ride greatly contributed to the colt’s sixth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby.

Then Chris McCarron called Jackson, not knowing that Nakatani was going to get another chance. Sorry, Jackson told McCarron. Love to have you, but I’ve already got Nakatani.

Then Craig Perret called, and Jackson told him the same thing.

Then Wayne Lukas, after leaning toward running Serena’s Song in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, announced that the filly would be running in the Derby. Bob Meldahl, Nakatani’s agent, called Jackson to tell him that his jockey was going to ride Serena’s Song in the Derby.

Jackson had done the honorable thing. “I didn’t think Nakatani would make the same mistake he made at Santa Anita,” he said.

And his reward is that three of the top jockeys in the country will be riding in the Derby, but none of them will be aboard In Character. As of late Monday, In Character still didn’t have a jockey.

Jackson and the other owners of In Character are considering appealing the debacle to the Churchill Downs stewards, but they are unlikely to get to first base, because with nothing in writing, it would be Jackson’s word against Meldahl’s, and Meldahl is saying that he didn’t give a guaranteed commitment. And even if Jackson won an appeal, he would be doing business with Nakatani, who prefers another horse.

There are still some big-race jockeys without Derby mounts like Laffit Pincay and Chris Antley.

“Pincay?” Jackson said. “His agent’s Bob Meldahl too.”

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THE RATINGS

No.Horse S 1 2 3 Earnings 1. Talkin Man 8 5 1 0 $677,967 2. Afternoon Deelites 6 5 1 0 $668,125 3. Jumron 8 5 2 1 $369,380 4. Serena’s Song 14 8 2 1 $1,231,435 5. Timber Country 10 4 1 3 $1,043,590 6. Suave Prospect 14 4 6 1 $458,850 7. Tejano Run 8 3 2 2 $481,147 8. Wild Syn 6 3 0 1 $344,974 9. Thunder Gulch 9 4 2 1 $716,006 10. Dazzling Falls 13 7 3 2 $675,531

Advisory panel for The Times’ Triple Crown Ratings: Racing historian Jim Bolus; Trevor Denman, announcer at four Southern California tracks; Tom Durkin, track announcer in New York and Florida, and Dave Johnson, racing telecaster for ABC and ESPN.