KENTUCKY DERBY Idaho is a home for this star colt

Buddy Gil's old Kentucky home is Hagerman, Idaho, where he was raised.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Buddy Gil was bred in the Bluegrass State, but he's not really at his old Kentucky home this week.
The only Kentucky Derby entry with three consecutive victories besides Peace Rules was raised in Hagerman, Idaho. It's where Buddy Gil wandered through streams and fields and was unfazed when wild game jumped out of the tall grasses he shared.
Co-owner Donnie McFadden, who bred the colt, raised Buddy Gil in a grass paddock with a nearby shed that kept him out of winter weather. McFadden believes in an outdoor life for his horses since those who make it to the races will spend the rest of their lives in stalls.
"There aren't any horses from Hagerman, Idaho, that have ever made it to this level," he said. "This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, my family, anybody in the industry in Idaho. There are so many fans in Idaho that are rooting for this blue-collar horse."
The first for them
Buddy Gil is the first graded stakes winner for McFadden and his wife, Judy. The colt's credentials include consecutive victories in the Santa Anita Derby, San Felipe Stakes and Baldwin Stakes.
"We're confident this horse belongs here," said co-owner Scott Guenther, whose first Derby experience came last year when Easy Grades finished 13th. "This is one of those horses that came out of nowhere. He's got a lot of fight in him."
Guenther, of Newport Beach, Calif., likes to joke that the city limit signs in Hagerman are back-to-back. The town near Twin Falls has about 800 residents.
Buddy Gil and McFadden aren't the only ones in the group with Idaho ties. Jockey Gary Stevens is from Caldwell and he rode Forever Rise, McFadden's first thoroughbred mare, to victory at Idaho's Les Bois Park in 1981.
Winner's circle photo
Trainer Jeff Mullins gave Stevens, then an unknown rider, a leg up on Forever Rise. It wasn't until Mullins' mother recently showed him a winner's circle photo from the race that he remembered Stevens shared the victory.
"Back then, I was just a punk kid trying to make a few dollars and Gary was just a jockey in Idaho," said Mullins, sporting a belt buckle the size of an appetizer plate that commemorates his training title at Arizona's Turf Paradise in 1999-2000.
"I showed Gary that picture and he goes, 'Man, look at us,' " Mullins said, laughing. "He said he had hair tucked up into his helmet then."
In Hall of Fame
Stevens' hair has thinned since he and Mullins started out with high hopes back then. Stevens went on to win three Derbies and was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame.
One of his Derby wins was in 1997 aboard Silver Charm.
"Buddy Gil is a more athletic horse than Silver Charm," Stevens said. "He's got the same kind of heart that Silver Charm had."
Mullins' rise took longer, but the 40-year-old will saddle a horse in the Derby for the second consecutive year.
"We've come a long ways, both of us," Mullins said. "It would be pretty special to win this race."