Black trainer Larry Demeritte brings his $11,000 horse to the Kentucky Derby

By BETH HARRIS
AP Racing Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Larry Demeritte has run horses on Kentucky Derby day in the past, just never in the big race. The 74-year-old trainer says it was all practice for Saturday, when he’ll saddle West Saratoga in the Derby. The gray colt cost $11,000 and is the pride of Demeritte’s 11-horse stable in Lexington, Kentucky. He’s just the second Black trainer since 1951 with a horse in the Derby, a race that was dominated in its early years by winning Black trainers. Demeritte was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and undergoes chemotherapy. He’s from the Bahamas, where his father was a trainer.