The general lament this year is that we don't know who is going to win the Kentucky Derby.

We're not supposed to know.

If we all knew, then on the first Saturday in May we'd get $2.10 for the winner, a minus pool would be created and it would no longer be right to call it "the most thrilling two minutes in sports."

This year it's far better. In fact, if Came Home wins, we may be calling it "the most thrilling two minutes, five seconds in sports."

But that's not the only reason. It's a lie that horse racing requires a new "Super Horse" each year to get us back to the sport's glory days. Weren't those the 1930's anyway? You mean horse racing will succeed only if there's another Great Depression?

Depressed? Be elated. The race is wide open. Let's have 20 starters and five more on standby in case the first 20 can't go 1 1/4 miles.

The point of the exercise (other than enjoying the natural beauty of the animals, the women in big hats and the men who spit on the ground) is to find a winner each race.

It doesn't matter if they're Maiden $2,500 Claimers or Grade I three-year-olds. A good part of the thrill (whether the thrill is for 1:07 4/5 or 2:00) is to take the information we obtain and find a way to use that in a way our fellow customers did not.

The information is not incomplete just because we don't have a sure thing. What we have instead is more opportunity to come to our own conclusions. Hermis is a good guy and everything but it's not like he offers insurance when I take his advice.

Take your own advice. Take in all the information. It's not lacking. And neither is the race. It's the Kentucky Derby. It doesn't need a "Super Horse." It needs the best ones available for 1 1/4 miles on the first Saturday in May. It's been a pretty good concept so far, something that won't be degraded by the fact the customers were confused by events leading to it.