128TH KENTUCKY DERBY NOTEBOOK: WINNER'S EX-TRAINER `TICKLED TO DEATH'.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The man who used to train War Emblem watched the colt's Kentucky Derby victory on television in Chicago on Saturday, feeling anything but sad, or so he said.

``I'm tickled to death,'' Frank ``Bobby'' Springer, a low-profile trainer at Midwestern racetracks, said on the phone. ``No regrets.''

Watching War Emblem win the Derby, he said, was ``like watching your child do well.''

Springer trained War Emblem for 84-year-old owner Russell Reineman for all seven races and four victories before the Derby. Springer was used to seeing War Emblem in the lead - the colt went wire-to-wire to win the Illinois Derby.

That was right before Reineman, who had purchased War Emblem as a yearling for $20,000, sold him for $990,000 to Saudi Arabian Prince Ahmed Salman, and the horse was turned over to trainer Bob Baffert.

Springer will be rewarded financially for the Kentucky Derby victory. War Emblem earned a $1 million bonus payment from Sportsman's Park for winning both the Illinois Derby and any Triple Crown race. The bonus is to be split between Reineman and Salman, and the trainer's percentage is to be divided between Springer and Baffert.

Besides, Springer hadn't planned to run War Emblem in the Kentucky Derby, preferring the April 20 Lexington Stakes and the May 18 Preakness.

``Hindsight,'' Springer said, ``is 40-40.''

--Late scratch: Baffert said Danthebluegrassman was withdrawn from the Derby on Saturday morning because he suffered the condition known as ``tying up'' as he cooled out following a gallop.

``... We noticed he was walking a little short in behind,'' Baffert said in a statement released through the Churchill Downs publicity department. ``We called over our vet, Dr. Doug Berry, and he looked at him and said he was tying up. It's like a muscle tightening.''

Baffert said Danthebluegrassman had to be given muscle-relaxant medication ``and you can't run a horse after you give them all that.'' He said the horse had tied up previously ``but not for a long time.''

Because the Derby has no also-eligible list, the scratch didn't help the owners of Windward Passage, the colt knocked out of the field by Danthebluegrassman's addition.

The racetrack's legion of skeptics wondered if Baffert and owner Mike Pegram ever intended to let Danthebluegrassman and jockey Kent Desormeaux start in the Derby. Having paid the $15,000 entry fee and being assured of receiving the box seats to which Derby owners are entitled, did they simply come up with a convenient excuse for scratching?

``Maybe I'm naive, but I kind of halfway believe it (Baffert's explanation),'' Jeff Siegel, vice president of Team Valor, the partnership that owns Windward Passage, said from his home in Duarte. ``I think that even if they intended to scratch, Derby fever would have taken over and they would have run him.''

The remaining 18 horses ran for a Derby purse totaling $1.175 million, of which $875,000 went to Baffert-trained winner War Emblem.

--Over there: Before the Aiden O'Brien-trained duo of Johannesburg and Castle Gandolfo finished eighth and 12th in the Kentucky Derby, another O'Brien pair finished first and second in the 2000 Guineas, a major 3-year-olds race run Saturday in Newmarket, England.

Rock of Gibraltar, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, defeated the favored Hawk Wing, with Jamie Spencer, in the 22-horse race. Rock of Gibraltar is owned by Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson.

The Ireland-based O'Brien attended the 2000 Guineas, not the Derby.

--Facts and figures: Two stakes sprints on the Kentucky Derby undercard produced disqualifications. D. Wayne Lukas-trained Snow Ridge and Mike Smith were taken down because the rider accidentally struck the second horse in the face with his whip, making D'Wildcat and Desormeaux winners in the Churchill Downs Handicap. Snow Ridge was a three-time stakes winner at Santa Anita this winter. Gold Mover and jockey John Velazquez were DQ'd, making Celtic Melody and Mark Guidry winners in the Humana Distaff. ... Alex Solis, unhurt when he was thrown from a horse earlier in the card, rode favored Beat Hollow to victory for trainer Bobby Frankel in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.