KENTUCKY DERBY NOTEBOOK: PLETCHER HAS NO EXCUSES FOR LOSING STREAK.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Sports Editor 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Todd Pletcher's record of futility in the Kentucky Derby got dramatically worse Saturday, but his often-steely demeanor didn't change at all.

Pletcher's five horses in the 133rd Derby finished sixth (Circular Quay), eighth (Any Given Saturday), ninth (SamP.), 18th (Scat Daddy) and 20th and last (Cowtown Cat) behind Carl Nafzger's winner, Street Sense.

That ran Pletcher's Derby record to 0 for 19. He already had the worst 0-fer in Derby history at 0 for 14.

"I'm not going to tell you I'm not disappointed. I am," Pletcher said beside the track minutes after the race. "But I said this before and I'll say it again: It isn't the end of the world if you don't win the Kentucky Derby. I wish I could tell you guys I'm going to go home and cry. But I'm really not."

Pletcher said, without having seen videotape, he had no excuses for his horses, among whom only Cowtown Cat ever got close to the lead.

The trainer said he does not plan to send any of the five to the May19 Preakness, but he intends to have Santa Anita Derby runner-up King of the Roxy in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Keeping it clean: None of the jockeys or trainers made excuses after a Derby without dramatic trouble, although several offered the usual stuff about their horses not liking the footing.

Mario Pino, jockey of Hard Spun, must have felt he had victory snatched away after leading into the stretch, but he said: "I'm ecstatic with the way he ran. ... No disgrace."

Robby Albarado, rider of third-place Curlin, blamed the colt's inexperience for his failure: "His never being behind horses (before) kind of beat him today. He got a lot of dirt in his face."

Mike Smith said Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago ran "sneakily good" to be seventh and gallop out in front.

As for the two Doug O'Neill- trained colts: Great Hunter (13th) "wasn't handling the track at all," jockey Corey Nakatani said; and Liquidity (14th) "had a good trip," Flores said.

Monarch watch: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrived at Churchill Downs about 2(bul) hours before the Derby and left shortly after watching the race from the fourth floor. The queen spent most of her visit in the track's Stakes Room. The Derby trophy was brought in for her to look at.

Wearing a lime-green suit and pink-topped hat, she watched the eighth race from a balcony, causing a stir among fans in viewing range.

Weather report: After two days of rain and forecasts of likely rain, it was mostly hazy sunshine at Churchill Downs on Saturday, and the track that began labeled "good" improved to "fast" three hours before the Derby.

Numbers game: After a 20-year drought for betting favorites in the Derby, public choices have won three of the past eight runnings of the race.

Street Sense (paying $11.80) joined Fusaichi Pegasus ($6.60 in 2000) and Smarty Jones ($10.20 in 2004). Street Sense's connections get $1,450,000 of the $2,210,000 Derby purse, sending the 3-year-old's career earnings to nearly $3 million.

The 2:02.17 clocking is the second-slowest in the past sevendry-weather Derbies, faster only than Giacomo's 2:02.75 in 2005. Although threeof the top four horses in the odds ran in, the Derby superfecta paid $29,046.40 for $1 with 28-1 Imawildandcrazyguy finishing fourth. The crowd of 156,635 was the Derby's third biggest, after the 163,628 in 1974 (the 100th Derby and the year after Secretariat) and the 157,536 a year ago.

The undercard: Jockey Rafael Bejarano had a huge day before he rode Dominican to 11th place in the Derby. Bejarano rode stakes winners with three mounts in a row -- Saint Anddan (8-1) for trainer Bobby Frankel in the 7-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes, 7-2 Take the Ribbon for Wally Dollase in the 1-mile-on-turf Churchill Distaff Turf Mile, and 7-1 Hystericalady for Jerry Hollendorfer in the 7-furlong Humana Distaff. The day's second-biggest race, the $561,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, went to 8-1 Sky Conquerer and Javier Castellano.

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