Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — "Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength."  — Henry Ward Beecher

A great racehorse doesn't simply run fast, it also must overcome adversity.

The aptly named Great Hunter will show he has that quality in abundance by overcoming a horrible post position to win the 133rd Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Winning from the No. 20 post in a 20-horse field is nigh on impossible, with only one horse accomplishing that since 1900 — Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. And no horse has won the grueling 1¼-mile race after only two prep races at the age of 3 since Sunny’s Halo in 1983.

So why pick a horse that is bucking so much history?

I had no choice.

My decision was made for me on the night of Nov. 4, when I sat in my living room watching replay after replay of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile run earlier that day. With every viewing, I grew more impressed.

But it wasn’t Street Sense, the runaway 10-length winner, who I was drawn to. It was the Doug O’Neill-trained Great Hunter, who finished third, 12¼ lengths behind the winner and 2¼ behind Circular Quay — both of whom are in the Derby.

While picking a horse to turn the tables on a foe who demolished him six months ago might seem perverse, there are a couple reasons to think that Great Hunter can do just that.

In the Juvenile, the J. Paul Reddam-owned Great Hunter showed the toughness of a street fighter by continuing to battle despite being bumped and forced wide around both turns. Under jockey Corey Nakatani, he actually got to the front at the top of the Churchill Downs stretch that day before understandably tiring.

Street Sense, meanwhile, enjoyed a dream trip, scooting along what many handicappers and trainers have identified as a “golden rail” — a hard-packed inside path affording better footing — before knifing through an opening at the top of the stretch and drawing off.

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Street Sense may have been a couple lengths better than Great Hunter that day, but he certainly wasn’t 12¼ better. And Great Hunter had beaten him by nearly two lengths in their meeting a month earlier, in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland.

The form these horses showed six months ago does not, of course, indicate how they will run on Saturday. But there are reasons to believe Great Hunter is sitting on a top effort.

In his debut this year — the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) March 3 at Santa Anita — Great Hunter showed he had developed into a top-notch 3-year-old. His 1¼-length margin of victory over Derby rival Sam P. wasn’t overly impressive, but the way he accomplished it was: The son of Aptitude flashed past the leaders at the top of the stretch like they were tied to the quarter pole.

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Off the strength of that effort, Great Hunter was bet down to 11-1 in the second round of Derby future wagering, which lets bettors lock in odds early on the horse or horses they believe can capture the roses. That put him only behind Street Sense, Circular Quay and the highly touted Nobiz Like Shobiz among individual betting interests.

But his odds will almost certainly be higher than that on Saturday because of some strange goings-on in his second start of the year — the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) April 14 at Keeneland.

The Blue Grass Stakes could not have been stranger if it was run on Silly Putty. Teuflesberg set a glacial pace on the artificial Polytrack surface, so slow that the late-running Great Hunter found himself in an unfamiliar position: right behind the leader.

The chase began in earnest at the top of the stretch, with Street Sense joining the fray from the outside and Zanjero slipping up the rail. But just as Great Hunter appeared to be hitting his best stride in midstretch, Teuflesberg drifted out in front of him, leaving him nowhere to go with Street Sense glued to his outside flank. Nakatani yanked Great Hunter back and then virtually stopped riding, letting the colt coast to the wire, which he crossed fifth, 1¾ lengths behind the late-closing winner Dominican.

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