Pitino pays a visit to Goldencents

There was a little bit of a buzz at

trainer Doug O'Neill's temporary headquarters in Barn 45 on the Churchill Downs

backstretch on a sunny and warm Wednesday

morning in Louisville, Kentucky.

Well, actually, there was a whole lot of buzz at

the barn, sort of like the Final Four buzz that surrounded the local Louisville

Cardinals this past March.

Not surprisingly, the main man behind both buzzes was on

the scene -- basketball coach and horse owner Rick Pitino.

"The Coach," as he's referred to in this part of basketball

mad Kentucky, made the scene at about 7:45 a.m. (EDT), in advance of a planned exercise by "his" horse, the bay Kentucky-bred Goldencents

who is set to go in Saturday's Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby.

And to add a large

basketball touch to the proceedings, he brought along the center from his newly

minted championship team, the 6-foot-11 Senegalese-born Gorgui Dieng, who

possibly could be a first-round pick in this year's NBA draft.

Approximately 150 media types, fans, friends and onlookers

joined the gathering -- some of them actually there to see the horse that Pitino

owns a 5 percent piece of. In light of the circumstances, it just could be true that

"The Coach" could go down as the most major minor partner in the history of the

Derby.

Goldencents and his swarm went trackside for 8:30 at the

start of the special Derby/Oaks training period. The tall bay was handled by

regular exercise rider Jonny Garcia, who proceeded to take the Santa Anita Derby

winner through a bit of backtracking before going through a strong 1 1/4 mile gallop around the track.

Among the interested onlookers were Goldencents' regular

rider, Kevin Krigger, along with his agent, Tom Knust. Krigger, who will attempt

to be the first black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby since Jimmy Winkfield in

1902, and Knust were being tailed by a film crew doing work on a documentary on

black jockeys.

Despite the circus atmosphere, O'Neill was doing

fine with his racetrack business. He did, however, admit to being more than a

bit nervous about an afternoon golfing date with Pitino, his brother Dennis and

another of Goldencents' co-owners, Dave Kenny.

The foursome, with an ESPN camera

crew in tow, was headed off to the upscale Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville,

site of Ryder Cups and PGAs. The trainer had even gone so far as to buy a new

set of golf clubs and was planning on "just trying to hit it straight."

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