TRAINER O'NEILL PICKS UP THE PIECES.

Byline: ART WILSON 

HORSE RACING

Trainer Doug O'Neill, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, probably would rather have been in Baltimore preparing one of his 3-year-olds for Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.

It wasn't so long ago that O'Neill seemed headed toward a banner spring on the Triple Crown trail, what with Great Hunter, Liquidity, Notional and Cobalt Blue in his barn. It appeared the racing gods were going to atone for Stevie Wonderboy's injury early last year that knocked the 2005 Breeders' Cup Juvenile champ out of the Kentucky Derby.

But thoroughbred racing has a way of humbling those who partake in the sport.

One day you're on top of the world, the next you're wondering when your next win is going to come.

For O'Neill, a 38-year-old Dearborn, Mich., native who has won 11 major Southern California training titles, it hasn't gotten that bad. But he does admit to being disappointed that none of his talented colts will be loading into the starting gate for the Preakness.

In O'Neill's perfect world, he would have been watching the Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals this week from a Baltimore hotel room.

Great Hunter, who ran third to Street Sense and Circular Quay in last November's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, perhaps has been the biggest bust of all O'Neill's Derby hopefuls. After winning the Bob Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita in March, the son of Aptitude finished fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes and wound up 13th at Churchill Downs.

"I would be lying if I said he didn't disappoint us," O'Neill said. "He might have fallen victim to his hard campaign as a 2-year-old."

Great Hunter raced seven times as a juvenile, winning twice and finishing second four times. He had only two preps heading into the Derby.

But Liquidity, who finished 14th in the Derby, also disappointed. So did Notional, who chipped an ankle following a bang-up second in the Florida Derby and had to miss the Run for the Roses.

"Even though he was kind of not really one of the major 10, in our mind he was the type of horse that could sneak up and do some damage, and he had to go to the sidelines," O'Neill said.

So like the rest of us mere mortals, O'Neill will grab a cold one at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday and watch the Preakness on television. He doesn't think there will be any real suspense.

"If I could hand pick which horse I could train, I'd say Street Sense," O'Neill said of the Derby winner who was installed as the early 7-5 favorite for the second leg of the Triple Crown. "The horse is a winner, and he's got a trainer (Carl Nafzger) who knows how to handle a big-time horse.

"I think he's going to be hard to beat, and Hard Spun (Derby runner-up), with them shortening up a little bit, that might play in his favor a little bit. I'd be shocked if it wasn't one of those two, and I would lean toward Street Sense."

If Street Sense wins the Preakness and has a shot to become the sport's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, O'Neill might be waiting in the wings in hopes of spoiling the party, much like the Southern California-based David Hofmans in 1997 when he saddled Touch Gold for the upset victory that spoiled Silver Charm's Triple Crown bid.

O'Neill said Great Hunter, who beat Street Sense in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October, came out of the Derby in great shape and is being pointed toward the 1 1/2-mile Belmont on June 9.

"He'll be a long shot, and probably rightfully so with his last couple of races, but he's still an extremely talented colt," O'Neill said.

Notional will be sidelined until late in the year after having that chip removed, but Liquidity is

on target for the Ohio Derby on June 2 at Thistledown and Cobalt Blue will resurface in the Alydar Stakes at Hollywood Park on May 26 after a lackluster run in the Illinois Derby and subsequent subpar works at Keeneland ended any Derby aspirations for the Merv Griffin-owned colt.

"We'll put the blinkers on him for the first time and hopefully he can jump back into the national scene if we get lucky," O'Neill said of Cobalt Blue.

Getting lucky is just what O'Neill would like to do on Derby day in the near future after experiencing his first taste of Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. He marvels at trainers like D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert who have won multiple Derbies.

"I don't know Bob Baffert that well, but I love to listen to him and read about him talking about the whole experience," O'Neill said. "It's really a journey to get a horse there in tip-top shape and to have them not only physically ready but mentally ready too.

"It's definitely something on my lifetime schedule as a trainer to try to knock that thing down."

In the plans: Lava Man was scheduled to breeze for the first time this morning at Hollywood Park following his last-place effort in the $5 million Dubai Duty Free on March 31. O'Neill said the $750,000 Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup on June 30 is still on the 6-year-old gelding's radar screen.

"We've talked about the Whittingham (Memorial Handicap on June 9) as (possibly) being a prep, but again both the owners and I realize it's up to Lava Man," O'Neill said. "So that first breeze will dictate whether we move toward that or we back away a little bit. He'll kind of tell us."

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OUT OF THE GATE

- Art Wilson