OPPOSITES WITH COMMONALITY : PULPIT, CAPTAIN BODGIT FAVORED.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Kentucky Derby favorites Pulpit and Captain Bodgit are about as similar in background as the Prince of Wales and Roseanne.

Slightly favored at 2-1 on the Churchill Downs morning line, Pulpit is a homebred from the world-renowned Claiborne Farm, which has owned six American champions, including 1984 Kentucky Derby winner Swale. The farm's motto, ``Breed the best to the best and hope for the best,'' is evident in Pulpit, a beautiful bay colt who was sired by 1992 Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy and is out of the Grade I winning racemare Preach.

Then there's 5-2 second choice Captain Bodgit, owned by a Southern California-based syndicate of 32 nouveau riche professionals, sporting a swollen tendon on his left front leg, and the product of modest parents.

But the two colts share one similarity which overshadows all the differences - each runs the competition into the ground.

Today, in the 123rd Kentucky Derby, they'll face 11 other 3-year-olds, including Free House, Silver Charm and Hello, the 1-2-3 finishers in last month's Santa Anita Derby.

Pulpit, who never raced as a 2-year-old because of a stress fracture, has won four of five starts this year, with his only loss a second to Captain Bodgit in the Florida Derby. Given the anti-bleeding medication Lasix for the first time, Pulpit bounced back with an impressive 3-1/2-length win in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, calming trainer Frank Brothers' nerves.

``Other than making me sick, the Florida Derby wasn't that bad,'' Brothers said. ``He had a bad day and showed courage to be second. The Blue Grass was his finest race. He had a month between races, I trained him a little lighter and he responded.''

Pulpit's nerves are also a concern, since he tends to get rattled before a race, a characteristic he may have inherited from grandsire Seattle Slew. The raucous Derby atmosphere won't help.

In an effort to keep him calm, Pulpit was allowed to leave the post parade and warm up by himself in his races before the Blue Grass Stakes. Brothers said he would ask Churchill Downs stewards if the colt can skip the post parade today if he seems too jittery. Pulpit has been schooled in the paddock this week.

There is no question that Pulpit is a talented horse who has accomplished a lot in a little time. But even Brothers admits that not having raced until his 3-year-old season could be a disadvantage, as history shows that the last Derby winner without a race as a juvenile was Apollo in 1882.

``You don't go straight to the pros, you work your way up,'' Brothers said. ``Experience always helps. They learn to run at 2, get some tough races into them and come back at 3 as a better horse.''

If Pulpit is a novice at racing, then Captain Bodgit is an old pro, with five wins in six starts as a 2-year-old and a lifetime record of seven wins in 10 starts. Captain Bodgit first caught the eye of Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor, a racehorse partnership firm, last summer. After the colt won the Laurel Futurity on Nov. 2, Irwin started to inquire about the colt.

``He looked like he had stamina and was explosive,'' said Irwin, who operates Team Valor with Jeff Siegel, best known in Southern California as a syndicated newspaper handicapper. ``It's very hard to find both. Usually an explosive horse doesn't have staying power and a horse with stamina is a plodder.''

An immediate concern for any prospective buyer was the ugly swollen tendon on the colt's left front leg. Usually a tendon that becomes bowed or stretched isn't flexible, and inhibits a horse's racing performance. But after a thorough examination by renowned Kentucky vet Dr. Alex Harthill, the go-ahead was given and Irwin purchased the horse on behalf of 32 investors for $500,000.

``It's not bowed, it was never torn and there are no lesions in it,'' trainer Gary Capuano said. ``It's more cosmetic than anything. He deals with it, it's never bothered him.''

In his first start for his new owners, and with new jockey Alex Solis, Captain Bodgit finished third to Pulpit in the Fountain of Youth Stakes in February, before winning the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial.

123RD KENTUCKY DERBY

When: Today, 2:32 p.m.

Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.

TV/Radio: Channel 7 coverage starts at 1:30 p.m.; XTRA-AM (690).

Where to bet: Hollywood Park will take wagers on the Kentucky Derby and seven other Churchill Downs races, as will its off-track sites, including Santa Anita, and the Ventura County and Antelope Valley fairgrounds. Hollywood Park windows open at 9 a.m. Live racing starts at 1:15 p.m.

Weather report: It rained Friday in Louisville, and the forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of light showers, temperatures in the mid-60s and windy conditions for today's race.

Box: 123RD KENTUCKY DERBY (see text)

Chart: The Derby Field

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Box, Chart