HORSE RACING Wimbledon favored in Santa Anita race

The Louisiana Derby winner will also be a Kentucky Derby contender.
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -- By his own account, Jim McIngvale has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to win the Kentucky Derby.
Finally, he's got a real chance with Wimbledon, the big, gray colt he bought for $425,000 and sent to three-time Derby winning trainer Bob Baffert.
"He's been in the business a while and never had any luck," Baffert said. "Finally, everything is going smooth for him."
Listed as 5-2 favorite
Wimbledon, winner of the Louisiana Derby, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in today's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, the final West coast prep before the Kentucky Derby on May 1.
With Javier Santiago aboard, Wimbledon takes on six rivals in the 11/8-mile Santa Anita Derby, including San Rafael winner Imperialism, San Felipe runner-up St Averil and Rock Hard Ten, unbeaten in two starts and making his stakes debut.
"I just want a safe race," Baffert said Friday morning after learning rain was in today's forecast. "When it gets wet, this track can get sort of dangerous."
McIngvale may have another Derby prospect in Consecrate, a probable for the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct next Saturday.
The Houston furniture store owner, nicknamed "Mattress Mac" because he wears a mattress -- with holes for his head and arms -- in his TV commercials, entered the racing scene in 1996. He started buying expensive yearlings, and sent them to two-time Derby winning trainer Nick Zito.
Trouble in past
Trouble followed. A self-described "shameless promoter" in his successful furniture business, McIngvale tried to call the shots in a sport he knew little about. His tinkering met resistance, so he took his horses away from Zito, then went through at least eight other trainers -- including his sister-in-law -- before hooking up with Baffert three years ago.
"I guess the lesson I took was I should stay the hell out of it and let the people who devoted their lives to horse racing run the horse racing business," McIngvale said.
McIngvale, 52, made the move to Baffert thanks to J.B. and Kevin McKathan, the Florida brothers who buy horses for both men.
The McKathans bought Wimbledon for McIngvale last year, and the owner currently has 12 horses with Baffert. Another 10, all 2-year-olds, are headed Baffert's way.
"They told me Bob was not someone you could tell what to do," McIngvale said. "I said, 'I've changed.' "
Baffert was only too happy to add McIngvale to his client list.
"A lot of people when they come in, they want to sort of run it like their own business," Baffert said. "He didn't totally understand it, but he does now. He knows I'm looking out for Mac."