A Horse With No Name Can’t Be a Hit, Can It?

Ilike the Santa Anita Derby because it’s the one race in which the horses are the personalities.

At least that’s the idea behind the advertising campaign for the prestigious race at Santa Anita Park featuring 3-year-olds considered potential Kentucky Derby starters.

For instance, the favorite in the 63rd running of the race Saturday probably will be War Chant, who, despite his belligerent name, is as tame as Tommy Tune.

The ad copy prepared by Santa Anita’s Candace Coder-Chew and Jack Disney describes him as a “tall, leggy guy” and a “debonair gent keen on good manners” and is accompanied by a caricature of him in a top hat and tails.

Disney, a former newspaperman who works in Santa Anita’s publicity department, usually does the reporting for the ads, which isn’t always easy.

Some trainers such as Bob Baffert and Wayne Lukas are accommodating. Baffert did such a thorough job last year of analyzing the enigmatic General Challenge that Disney decided the horse should be called Rodman, a nickname that stuck.

But some other trainers, if you ask them to describe a horse’s personality, look at you as if you’ve seen too many episodes of “Mr. Ed.”

In those cases, Disney relies on grooms, exercise riders, barn managers and jockeys.

Some of his favorites over the years include Corker, who was reluctant to run and hated mudslinging and thus became known as General Colin Palomino, and Bagshot, a grouch except when working who became known as Boss Steed.

Cavonnier was depicted as a French surfer. “Forget about laissez faire,” the ad advised. “Fact is, he’s fairly lazy.”

Bettors beware: Don’t use the advertisements as a tout sheet. Cavonnier, despite his questionable work habits, won the Santa Anita Derby and finished second in the Kentucky Derby.

No one is all that reliable when it comes to figuring out racehorses. Coder-Chew recalls talking to Bob Lewis, Charismatic’s owner, before last year’s Santa Anita Derby.

He thanked her for her interest but said that there wasn’t anything particularly special about his horse. Charismatic finished fourth at Santa Anita, then won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

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According to a new book about Cuban baseball, “Full Count” by Milton H. Jamail, Yankee pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who beat the Angels on Monday night, remains popular on the island. . . .

But not brother Livan. . . .

The difference, Jamail writes, is that Livan defected while representing Cuba in games in Mexico, and Orlando, who had no future in baseball in the country after his banishment from the sport for taking money from an agent, fled on a boat. . . .

Jamail also reports that Orlando’s birthday, listed as Oct. 11, 1969, by major league baseball, actually is Oct. 10, 1965. . . .

Happy birthday Friday to Adrian Beltre, the only person I know who gets younger each year. . . .

Joe Torre was roasted Tuesday at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills. Billy Crystal said Tom Lasorda couldn’t be there because he was in Miami trying to sign Elian Gonzalez. . . .

A revised edition of Times baseball writer Ross Newhan’s “The Anaheim Angels: A Complete History” has been released. . . .

Even in the revised edition, they still don’t win a pennant. . . .

The “one pitch away from the World Series” game they lost in 1986 to the Boston Red Sox is reviewed in painful detail. . . .

Mike Witt, who was yanked with a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning and Rich Gedman at the plate, refused to second-guess manager Gene Mauch when asked about it for probably the millionth time Monday night at Edison Field. . . .

Mauch doesn’t second-guess Mauch, either. . . .

“The bottom line is that Rich Gedman could hit Mike Witt at midnight with the lights out,” he told Newhan.

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The only teams that have won more games at home than the Lakers have on the road are Phoenix and Indiana. . . . Frenchman Jean Van de Velde has a sense of humor about his British Open collapse. He says he likes Augusta National because there’s no water on 18. . . .

About 5,400 young track and field athletes have entered the Mt. San Antonio College Relays/Amateur Athletic Foundation Youth Days on Friday and Saturday. . . .

Carl Lewis will be at the track in Walnut to greet them. . . .

He would still be favored in the long jump in the invitational portion of the meet April 16. . . .

As usual, the Mt. SAC Relays are attracting a stellar field in an Olympic year. Matchups include Ato Boldon vs. Mike Marsh in the 100 meters and Maurice Greene vs. Jon Drummond in the 200. Marion Jones has entered the 400. . . .

Want to be a member of Ike Quartey’s entourage when he approaches the ring before his April 15 fight in Las Vegas against Fernando Vargas? You could have been if you had bid in the EBay.com auction last week. The winner paid $5,850. . . .

Maybe it was Teddy Atlas. He’ll do anything to get on TV. . . .

This old quote from former Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman, who died last month: “I like the Ivy League because it’s the only conference where the coaches are paid more than the players.” . . .

Too bad that the Pavel Bure-Anna Kournikova wedding is off. I’ll have to return the samovar to the store.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.