Oh, this is exactly what racing didn't need. A week after the unheralded gelding owned by a bunch of regular guys wins America's Race, there are questions about possible wrongdoing in the Kentucky Derby.

My old Kentucky home, good night.

A photograph of Jose Santos seems to show a dark area, perhaps a small object, between his right hand and his whip as he waves his right arm after winning the 129th Derby on Funny Cide. The photo, by Jamie Squire of Getty Images, appeared in Saturday's Miami Herald with an article written by Frank Carlson and Clark Spencer. The picture also ran in many newspapers May 4, the day after the Derby.

According to the Herald's story, two Kentucky Derby stewards termed the photo "suspicious" after being made aware of it Thursday, so the Kentucky Racing Commission is taking a look.

In the 1999 Arkansas Derby, rider Billy Patin was suspended for five years after he was found to have used a battery-powered device that shocked longshot winner Valhol into giving an all-out effort. It's an ugly memory for the sport, and the fear of a recurrence remains. The three Kentucky Derby stewards -- Rick Leigh, Bernie Hettel and Jack Middleton -- will meet with Santos and his attorney, Karen Murphy, behind closed doors in Louisville Monday morning.

Santos will face much tougher questions than he fielded early in the evening on the first Saturday in May, when he, trainer Barclay Tagg and Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, basked in a zone of glory. Funny Cide was the first New York-bred to win the Derby and the first gelding to pull it off since 1929. His upset of the blueblood Empire Maker, owned and bred by a Saudi prince, was hailed as a triumph for the little guys on four and two legs. Knowlton spoke of a people's horse that could spread good will for the game.

The feel-good saga was supposed to continue Saturday at Belmont Park, where Funny Cide was schooled in the paddock. Instead, Santos, Tagg and Knowlton were on the defensive.

Santos denied he had anything but the whip in his right hand during the Derby. In Sunday's Daily Racing Form, he is quoted as calling the Herald's story "completely stupid. I'd have to be a magician [to have a battery]. Where am I going to hide that thing? I want to get to the bottom of this. I want my name cleared. Definitely, this is very stupid, very unfair."

The Derby videotape supports Santos' contention. He switched the whip from his right hand to his left and back to the right during the last three-sixteenths of a mile, which would be impossible for a jockey carrying more than one object.

"That'd take a damned good juggler," Tagg said. The tape also shows that after passing the wire, Santos reached down and patted Funny Cide on the neck four times with the open palm of his right hand.

"It's absurd," Tagg said. "Terry Meyocks [New York Racing Association president] has blown the picture up. It is clear as day. You can see right through his whole hand ... I don't know what they are talking about. They're nuts."

Knowlton said any accusations Santos might have cheated "are just absolutely, totally ridiculous.''

In Santos' 19 years in the United States, critics have focused on his tactics, not his character. Sometimes he restrains horses too strongly early, waits too long to make his move and finds traffic trouble in the stretch. As someone in the Churchill Downs press box said after the Derby, "Here's a guy who can get in trouble four times in a six-horse turf race and he works out the perfect trip here."

Although he makes more mistakes than the elite riders I've never heard the 42-year-old Chilean called dishonest or a bad guy. Unfortunately, justified or not, his reputation will take a hit.

No matter how it turns out, this also is a no-win situation for the sport. People always will believe what they want to believe, and perception can become an alternate form of reality. Even if the inquiry ends Monday and Santos is cleared completely, many people still will argue that it's a cover-up to protect the Derby's image. Racing is a cheaters' game, they'll say, filled with drugs and fixes, right?

Except during the Triple Crown, most media outlets determinedly ignore racing, considering it below the radar for all but a small percentage of sports fans. It will get plenty of extra attention this week, and it won't involve features on the Maryland-based longshots in the Preakness. The journalistic guideline is that if it's ugly, it's news, and if it's extremely ugly, it's big news.

According to the Herald, Santos, before hanging up the phone Friday at Belmont, said, "Why do you want to write about this negative [stuff]?"

Well, because people love to read about it, unfortunately. What could be more riveting than a possible scandal about America's most hyped race? The controversy will be front and center in newspapers and on TV, radio and the Internet.

The writers for Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel will be cranking out the one-liners. There will be wisecracks about Funny Cide's electrifying burst of energy and suggestions that Eveready should sponsor the race.

The slogan of New York's thoroughbred breeding industry is "New York-breds -- they start with an advantage." Many people will prefer to believe that Santos gave Funny Cide an unfair edge, no matter how this affair shakes out. Even after your greatest victory, sometimes you can't win.