GOOD NEWS FOR GRIFFIN ENTERTAINER'S RACEHORSE STILL RECOVERING.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND  Staff Writer

The phone calls to Merv Griffin's office always included one key phrase: ``Tell Merv it's good news.''

Before Griffin, media mogul and thoroughbred owner, took the calls from trainer Doug O'Neill, Griffin wanted to know, immediately, that there were no problems with his champion colt, Stevie Wonderboy.

``Then that one day, Doug called and said, `It's bad news,''' Griffin said. ``I just thought, `Oh no.'''

Stevie Wonderboy should be the biggest story of Saturday's Kentucky Derby: the 2-year-old champion, owned by one entertainment icon and named after another, running for the roses, possibly as the favorite.

But that Feb. 6 phone call changed everything. O'Neill told Griffin that Stevie Wonderboy had suffered an injury during a normal workout, and tests would eventually reveal that the horse suffered a hairline fracture of his right front a nkle, which required surgery and will keep him out of the Triple Crown entirely.

Griffin, 80, has a passion for the sport that dates to his childhood, when he watched Seabiscuit run twice at Bay Meadows.

After Stevie Wonderboy won the Breeders' Cup Juvenille last October, and presumably gave Griffin his first Kentucky Derby runner, Griffin sang, ``My Old Kentucky Home'' for reporters.

So while Griffin has every right to be inconsolable these days, he continues to hum a happy tune.

``I think (Griffin) was in shock at first,'' said Don Rhodes, who manages Griffin's La Quinta farm, which includes 30 thoroughbreds and is the temporary home of Stevie Wonderboy during his recovery.

``You're on the top of the world, and then the next day you realize it's over. Most of us, we couldn't even pick up our heads when we were walking around, but right away, Mr. Griffin said, `Let's move on.' Anybody who has been successful in business, like he has, knows there are going to be ups and downs.''

Indeed, Griffin is already looking forward. Stevie Wonderboy's recovery is going well, with the main focus right now being to keep excessive weight off the horse during this period of inactivity. He is being walked regularly and eventually will be jogged around the 5/8-mile training track in La Quinta.

If all goes well, Stevie Wonderboy would be returned to O'Neill's Hollywood Park barn in June for resumption of regular training, and the Breeders' Cup Classic in November is a possibility.

``I'm blessed with so many horses,'' said O'Neill, who has been Griffin's thoroughbred trainer for almost three years. ``I've got so much to look forward to with this horse coming back.''

The ironic part is that this year's Breeders' Cup will be held at Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby. So Griffin might get there after all - just six months later than he hoped.

``It's a great American pageant,'' Griffin said of the Derby.

``It's amazing to see a horse race in front of 150,000 screaming people. It's an amazing event, but I won't be there.

``But I have a philosophy. I say, `Turn the page.' It's a sad thing for us, because it's really been like a soap opera, but when you're in this business, you have to know that things like this can happen.''

Griffin knew what he was dealing with.

None of the 21 winners of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile went on to win the Kentucky Derby. Eight of them never made it to the starting gate. Stevie Wonderboy also won the Eclipse Award for top 2-year-old, and no winners of that award have won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979.

All thoroughbreds are delicate, particularly 2-year-olds, so every time Stevie Wonderboy stepped on the track, his connections held their collective breath, with good reason.

``The dream was that we were going to be the ones to break the (2-year-old) jinx,'' Rhodes said, ``but in reality you're thinking, `Uh oh, when's it going to happen?' You almost expect something to go wrong.

``With Derby horses, or 2-year-olds in general, they always kind of have a hoof on the disaster button.''

Stevie Wonderboy couldn't avoid it, and has come to a pause in his young career, one that started with a purchase by O'Neill's brother Dennis, on behalf of Griffin, for the relatively small sum of $100,000.

The horse first drew attention with an impressive victory at the Del Mar Futurity, then won the Juvenile despite a bump and a stumble at the start. Brother Derek, the Kentucky Derby favorite, held off Stevie Wonderboy to win the $150,000 San Rafael Stakes on Jan. 14, and less than three weeks later, the injury took place.

``I still remember when Doug called me and said, `Merv, I really think we have something powerful here,''' Griffin said.

``He said, `This is probably the best horse you will ever have in your life.'

``He has such a style. My favorite horse was Secretariat, because he used to thrill me with how he would come from the back of the pack. Stevie is a bit like that. He's comfortable being at the back and then suddenly, at the top of the stretch, it's almost like he kick starts and takes off.''

Before long, Griffin will get to see that kick again, but Saturday he will have to watch the Derby from home. Griffin said he will cheer for Brother Derek, out of loyalty to another California horse, but then added, with a bit of a lilt in his voice, ``Stevie could have beat him.''

Griffin speaks glowingly about two 2-year-olds, Cobalt Blue and C'mon Buddy, whom he expects to debut at Del Mar this summer, but clearly Griffin's thoughts remain with Stevie Wonderboy.

``We all felt like this was our Derby horse,'' Griffin said.

``I love the sport. I've been to entertainment awards shows and all that, but there's nothing like the feeling of standing in the winner's circle.''

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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132ND KENTUCKY DERBY