Rick Pitino led Louisville to a national championship in April. (Photo: Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports) LOUISVILLE – Rick Pitino has the Midas touch these days. The Kentucky Derby horse he co-owns is named Goldencents. So fans of the Louisville Cardinals figure to have that gleam in their eyes at the betting windows. "I think a lot of Louisville fans will bet on the horse just because of Rick Pitino," Jody Demling said Wednesday at Churchill Downs during a break in his broadcast on Cards Radio 790. "You know you'll have a lot of $2 tickets just because they want Rick Pitino's horse. It's another autograph thing for them to give Rick Pitino," added Demling, sporting a T-shirt lettered with Goldencents and Louisville Cardinals. Increased betting on a particular horse lowers the odds. DERBY:Meet the favorite, Verrazano ''It's going to get bet down because of who it is," Demling said of the Goldencents wager. In early April, Pitino coached Louisville's men's basketball team to the NCAA title. On the same day, it was announced he had been chosen for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. A few days earlier, his son, Richard, was hired as basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. But Pitino wasn't talking up a Derby win for Goldencents when he visited the barn area at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning. "Obviously, we're rooting for Goldencents, but the Derby is something you never know," said Pitino, whose horse ranked third in the points standings that determined entries. "If we don't win it, I'd like to see somebody like Shug McGaughey (trainer of highly regarded Orb) win it. He's never won a Derby, and he's certainly been a great trainer and a friend of mine. ... It's anybody's ballgame. It's not like basketball where you can look at a team and say, 'Well, they've got a little more firepower.'" Pitinowas swarmed by about 150 news media members and onlookers in the barn area. Human traffic control was an issue as horses and attendants went through their routines. Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs senior director of communications and media services, relocated the news media to form a corridor. "This is going to be like horse racing's red carpet," he said. Demling said he's been covering the backside (barn area) at Churchill Downs for 22 years. He hadn't seen anything like Pitino's visit. "That's an insane amount of people back there for a guy that owns 5% (of the horse)," Demling said. "Everything he touches is golden, and obviously (the horse is named) Goldencents." Goldencents is primarily owned by W.C. Racing and Dave Kenney, owner of a California trucking firm. Pitino was also a part owner of AP Valentine (seventh in 2001) and Halory Hunter (fourth in 1998). Pitino, who also won an NCAA title at Kentucky in 1996, got involved in racing during his time with the Wildcats. He used to take recruits to Claiborne Farm to see racing greats such as the late Secretariat. "That really introduced me to the game formally," Pitino said. "I knew a little bit of it in New York but not like now." That said, he acknowledged he knows a lot more about hoops than horses. He'd seen Goldencents before watching him train Wednesday. But he said he has limits when it comes to assessing horses. "I don't know what I'm looking at, so what do I know?" he said. Making good on a pledge to hisplayers, Pitino recently got an "L" tattoo on his back. It includes the team's 35-5 record and "NCAA Champions." Will Pitino get another if Goldencents wins the Derby? "No," he said. "Basketball only." Goldencents' trainer, Doug O'Neill, saidthis week that he was game for some ink if the horse wins. "That would be a good tattoo to have," said O'Neill, who won the Derby last year with I'll Have Another. "I did tell Coach I'm ready for a Goldencents tattoo after we win the Derby. So we'll see how that goes." PHOTOS: SATURDAY AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY Story Highlights
