KENTUCKY DERBY NOTEBOOK: TRAINERS: BONUS BOGUS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Sports Editor 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kentucky Derby promoters claim to see nothing cockeyed in paying tribute to Barbaro by offering to shell out a $1 million bonus if a horse wins Saturday's race by more than 6 1/2lengths, the late colt's margin a year ago.

But the idea drew nothing but scorn from a couple of Derby-winning trainers and others in the Churchill Downs barns Tuesday morning.

The bonus would be split four ways among the winning owner, trainer and jockey and the Barbaro Memorial Fund, which supports research on the causes and treatment of catastrophic injuries like Barbaro's Preakness breakdown.

Might the bonus convince a jockey to push a horse to run harder than necessary, creating the spectacle of an easy winner being whipped across the wire -- and raising the risk of injury in a tired 3-year-old?

"I can't imagine anybody would abuse a horse in that manner," Churchill Downs president and CEO Bob Evans told the Daily Racing Form when the bonus offer by Yum! Brands was announced Monday.

D. Wayne Lukas, the four-time Derby-winning trainer, said he wouldn't want a rider to try to pour it on if his horse were in command in the final yards.

"In light of what's ahead of you, the Preakness and all, that might be counterproductive," Lukas said. "But, then, Yum! probably is not too in tune to our game."

Carl Nafzger, who trained 1990 Derby winner Unbridled and has 2-year-old champion Street Sense in Saturday's race, was asked how he'll feel if his jockey was going for the bonus.

"I'll kill him," Nafzger said.

Louisville-based Yum! Brands, which operates KFC, Taco Bell and other fast-food chains -- has taken out an insurance policy to cover the bonus it's calling the "Yumfecta."

It's unlikely to have to pay out; Barbaro's 6 1/2-length margin was the biggest in the Derby in 60 years. The Derby has a base purse of $2 million, of which the winner will earn about $1.5 million.

Merv Griffin no-show: Cobalt Blue, the colt owned by Merv Griffin, won't run in Saturday's Kentucky Derby after finishing seventh in last month's Illinois Derby and turning in a sub-par recent workout.

Trainer Doug O'Neill announced the decision Tuesday afternoon after hinting at it in the morning at the barn where the Santa Monica resident's Great Hunter and Liqudity remain on target for the Derby.

Griffin, whose previous attempt to get a horse to the Derby fell apart when 2005 2-year-old champion Stevie Wonderboy got hurt, had been excited about Cobalt Blue's prospects after he and jockey Victor Espinoza won the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in March.

"Merv's saying he just wants to put the (interests of the) horse first," O'Neill said of the entertainer. "We were disappointed with his final race. He's said, 'The last reason I want you to run this horse is for me to get attention."'

O'Neill indicated the Preakness Stakes is a possibility for Cobalt Blue's next start, though he might wait for the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Also dropping out Tuesday was the overmatched Xchanger. The two spots in the field, which is limited to 20, will be taken by Teuflesberg, the fourth horse in the Blue Grass Stakes photo finish, and Imawildandcrazyguy, sixth in the Florida Derby.

Derby entries are finalized today and jockey assignments, starting slots and morning-line odds set in a post-position "draft" (2 p.m., ESPN2).

The 20 horses due to be entered, listed by their prep races: Santa Anita Derby -- Tiago, first; Sam P., third; Liquidity, fourth; Bwana Bull, fifth. Arkansas Derby -- Curlin, first; Storm in May, second. Blue Grass -- Dominican, first; Street Sense, second; Zanjero, third; Teuflesberg, fourth; Great Hunter, fifth. Florida Derby -- Scat Daddy, first; Stormello, fourth; Imawildandcrazyguy, sixth. Illinois Derby -- Cowtown Cat, first. Lane's End -- Hard Spun, first; Sedgefield, second. Louisiana Derby -- Circular Quay, first. Wood Memorial -- Nobiz Like Shobiz, first, Any Given Saturday, third.

Street scene: Street Sense, who could fight Curlin for the favorite's role Saturday, put in the morning's only major workout. The 2-year-old champ went 5 furlongs in 1:01 at Churchill Downs and came off the track acting happy, Nafzger said.

"He looks," Nafzger said, "like somebody just put their grandkids on Old Nelly and took them down to the lake bottom to ride around a while."

That's good, right?

heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com

[phone]