Prescription for Victory at Derby? : Horse racing: Ex-pharmacy student turned trainer, Brazilian jockey hope to make Jumron a winner in Kentucky.

It’s a long way from Central Pharmacy, at 4th and Wilshire in Santa Monica, to Churchill Downs. It’s even farther from Rio de Janeiro.

Those were the starting points, though, for two of the little big men in Saturday’s 121st Kentucky Derby. Gary Lewis, short enough to be the jockey that he never was, trains Jumron, the British-bred colt whose strong, late run in the Santa Anita Derby makes him dangerous. Goncalino Almeida, at 5 feet 4 a couple of inches taller than Lewis, rides the horse.

Lewis, 54, studied pharmacy at USC and worked at the same drugstore in Santa Monica for six years before he began training.

Almeida, 39, was a leading rider in Brazil, having won more than 2,500 races, when he joined the Southern California circuit about 2 1/2 years ago.

They head the cast of New Faces of ’95 at the Derby. Lewis will start a horse outside of California for the first time here Saturday. Almeida has ridden the winner of the Brazil Derby twice but has never been to a Kentucky Derby.

Almeida worked Jumron on Tuesday for the first time since the colt arrived here from California. Jumron went five furlongs on a muddy track in 1:02, and afterward the shy Almeida was coaxed into Lewis’ barn for what must have been his biggest stateside interview. At least a dozen reporters surrounded him.

What most of them wanted to know was whether Almeida was surprised to be here, still riding Jumron.

He has made no mistakes in four starts with the colt, winning two stakes at Bay Meadows, finishing second another time there and running third, beaten by half a length, in the Santa Anita Derby. But high-powered jockeys are like birds of prey at Derby time, circling potential pickup mounts when they don’t have horses of their own, and Lewis’ phone was ringing before reruns of the Santa Anita Derby had been played.

An agent for Gary Stevens called. So did Laffit Pincay’s representative.

“There were at least five calls from other jockeys,” Lewis said. “Two of the calls were from jockeys I never heard of.”

That brought a guffaw--an agent for someone Gary Lewis never heard of calling Lewis because Lewis has a jockey that the agent never heard of.

“This is a first for all of us,” Lewis said. “We’re committed to sticking together and having fun here. Goncalino’s a fine rider. He never loses his cool. He reminds me of Don Pierce, the way he sits chilly on a horse.”

Almeida finished 11th in the jockey standings in the recent Santa Anita meeting, having ridden 31 winners. He rides about 80% of Lewis’ stock in California.

“Gary Lewis told me that the horse runs great for me and that I would still be his jockey,” Almeida said. “Mr. Dunn (owner Charles Dunn) told me the same thing. He told me not to worry.”

Dunn bought Jumron, his first Derby starter, for a reported $150,000 after the horse had won three races and finished second twice as a 2-year-old. Dunn has trouble pronouncing Almeida’s first name, and plays it safe by simply calling him “Gonzol.”

Obscure jockeys have not won the Derby lately. Almeida is trying to become the first winner without Derby experience since Ronnie Franklin aboard Spectacular Bid in 1979.

For Almeida, riding horses was a natural thing. His father and his grandfather were jockeys who later trained horses. Goncalino took out his first jockey’s license in Brazil when he was 14. On Tuesday morning, all those years of riding at the racetracks of the world showed.

“He’s the most unbelievable, as far as knowing how fast he’s going,” Lewis said after Jumron’s workout. “He told the outrider coming back that he thought they went in 1:01 and change, with a last quarter in :24. So he was right on the money.”

Almeida said that the drying-out track was dead and that Jumron wanted to go faster. The colt has won three times on off tracks and would move up if the chance of rain materializes Saturday. On a fast track, Jumron was ahead of only one horse after three-quarters of a mile in the Santa Anita Derby and made up more than seven lengths the rest of the way. In another jump or two he might have beaten Larry The Legend and Afternoon Deelites, who ran 1-2.

Jumron’s running style--he figures to be near the rear in a 19-horse field Saturday--is frequently an albatross in the Derby.

Almeida may not know the race from riding experience, but he knows its history.

“You need a lot of luck to win,” he said. “A horse that comes from behind like mine does, you need to get a good position.”

If the plan works, some wonderful things could occur. Brazil might fall in love with the Kentucky Derby. And Charles Dunn might learn his jockey’s first name.

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Horse Racing Notes

Chris Antley, who won the 1991 Derby with Strike The Gold, was named to ride In Character in Saturday’s race. Antley picked up the mount after trainer Bruce Jackson was caught in a three-way switch that cost him the services of Corey Nakatani, Chris McCarron and Craig Perret. After conferring with In Character’s other owners, Jackson concluded that it would be pointless to refer the mix-up to the Churchill Downs stewards.