Friesian Fire - I love a blood bay!

Well, almost never. They know not to interrupt Jeopardy! unless there is fire or blood involved, but they can -- and do -- interrupt anything else I'm watching.

That's why on Saturday, at 4:30 p.m., my bedroom door will be locked and all children banished. Saturday day is Derby Day and for the last, oh, 18 years or so, my kids have an uncanny instinct for barging in and demanding to spend those two electrifying minutes telling me about the newest Pokemon character, the pimple on their earlobe, or the lack of computing power on our ancient PC. I'm nodding, trying to look interested, and mentally shouting, "Take him to the outside, Ramon! Use the bat! Use the bat!"

Not this year.

I don't always follow the races closely. Like Easter Christians and Superbowl football fans, I wait until the big day before even learning who some of the horses are. But this year, I've been following two horses, both trained by Larry Jones. He ran the filly Eight Belles who had to be destroyed after coming in second to Big Brown in last year's Derby. She was a great horse and Jones seems to be a genuinely good guy -- the man cried. You wouldn't see Bob Baffert crying unless the insurance company denied his claim. He'll have at least two horses running this year, if all goes well, and I'm rooting for his Friesian Fire first and Old Fashioned second. My choice for third is I Want Revenge, but then, he's everybody else's choice for first, so that's where he'll probably end up.

I'll automatically root against anything Baffert runs. I just don't like him, He's smug and greedy and likes to take credit for toher people's hard work. How many times has be gotten control of horses after other trainers put them in the winner's circle? And for this, he gets in the hall of fame?

I'll take Bobby Frankel any day. He takes horses no one else can work with and brings them on in style.

So don't call me Saturday, don't ask me where my kids are, just let me revel in the pre-race hooplah and the post-race celebration.

And root for the Fire!