LOUISVILLE, KY. - Big Brown is perfect. The colt's trainer, Rick Dutrow, admittedly is not. He once was a drug-addled horseman who was ruled off New York racetracks for five years. Since returning, he has earned a rogue reputation for being suspended for everything from medication violations to making up a workout for one of his better horses.

Dutrow had endured his share of heartbreak, too.

In 1997, his former girlfriend was murdered in a drug-related break-in as the couple's daughter Molly, now 13, slept in an adjacent room. In 1999, his father, Dick Dutrow, who won 3,665 career races and passed on to his son his horsemanship skills, succumbed to cancer. Worse, Dutrow was estranged from his father, who had wearied of Rick's lost-boy antics.

Even now, as the winning trainer of the Kentucky Derby, Dutrow's redemptive tale has its share of rough edges. He retains the hipster habit of calling most everyone "Babe" and talks freely about his love for a big score at the betting windows.

Before the Derby, he crowed that Big Brown was unbeatable. Now, with a field of as many as 12 new challengers waiting in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, Dutrow has declared his colt an "even-money" favorite not only to win in Baltimore but also the Belmont Stakes as well to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed swept the series in 1978.

"I'm no role model," said Dutrow, 48. "I wonder sometimes if I had to go through some of the things I've gone through to get where I am today. I don't think anyone would look to me for guidance, but at the same time I'm honest about where I've been, and I'm confident in where I'm going."

Where Dutrow has come from in the past decade is a tack room in Barn 1 at Aqueduct. It was his home. He had a cot, a microwave, a refrigerator and a two-horse barn.

"He hung his clothes up right next to his horse blankets," said Sanford Goldfarb, a commodities trader and the first owner Dutrow worked with. "He might have had 100 bucks to his name, and it went to feed his horses before it went to feed himself."

Still, Goldfarb was impressed. He had been a longtime owner of standardbreds and wanted to make the switch to thoroughbreds. Goldfarb also recognized a kindred spirit -- he, too, had willed himself from modest means in Brooklyn to a well-heeled horse owner.

Dutrow told Goldfarb about how a positive test for marijuana and persistent drug problems had derailed his training career. About how Molly's mother, Denise Toyloy, was murdered in Schenectady, N.Y., and Molly was now living with Dutrow's mother, Vicki.

He also told his prospective employer that he should never leave the barn because when he does, trouble follows.

"When I'm in the barn," Dutrow said. "I'm just there with my horses and it's good."

Dutrow finally told him that he could flat out train a racehorse.

"He's an open book and can't help but tell the truth," Goldfarb said. "He never ever lost his confidence or his will or his belief in his ability."

The pair began claiming horses and winning almost immediately. Dutrow helped Goldfarb win the leading-owner title in New York from 2001 to 2003. Time after time, they claimed horses for anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000 and moved them up to graded stakes victories.

Goldfarb and his far more famous partners then, former New York Yankees manager and bench coach Joe Torre and Don Zimmer, for example, claimed the filly Sis City for $50,000. She went on to win the 2005 Grade I Ashland Stakes by 10 1/2 lengths and was sold for $2 million, Goldfarb said, as a brood mare.

Next page >