As Kent Desormeaux was taking Fusaichi Pegasus on the walk to the gate prior to his walk in the Wood, he led the animal along the outside rail. "About six inches from it," Desormeaux recalls. "And the New York fans were screaming at us, waving programs, yelling at us to 'go back home.'"

Desormeaux and his colt had obviously encountered some cousins of the inhabitants of the right center field bleachers from Yankee Stadium or something. The mob mentality had taken over and the mob was intending to rattle the favorite.

The prevailing notion is that Fusaichi Pegasus is easily flustered. Apparently, the key evidence is found December 11, 1999, when he lost a maiden race by a neck. Indeed, a more composed colt would have lost by a nose.

Anyway, he hasn't lost since.

And he won uncontested that day at the Wood. The other runners fared no better than the hecklers. "He didn't even look back at them," says Desormeaux. That goes for his opponents in the Wood, too.

The Derby atmosphere is chaotic, never mind anyone's overt attempts to get after a particular entrant. The noise is deafening.

Kent Desormeaux would love that his youngster hear the noise.

Jacob Desormeaux is 14 months old. He cannot hear. Two weeks ago, Kent and his wife Sonia were given the news that nothing can be done medically to bring back the boy's hearing. The jockey, who is deaf in one ear, and who is supposed to be apprehensive about all the loud sounds in the Derby, is the father who would go winless if he could trade that for some sound received by his son. The father who would trade in his good ear.

Sonia Desormeaux stood in the paddock at Churchill, about 24 hours before her husband was to begin a possible Triple Crown journey. "You're going to get me crying," she says. "There's this pain of knowing your child will never hear your voice."

There are greater trials than theirs. But this is the one they know. And as she shows off the pictures of her sons (they also have a 7 year old, Joshua) it's becoming apparent they didn't need a tragedy to gain some perspective. "Family is what matters," says Sonia. "Our kids need our help and we have a job to do."

In the weeks between the Wood and the Derby, Desormeaux says he might have spent most of his down time envisioning all that would take place in Kentucky. He would have except he and his wife have been going through a sign language book together.

Given Desormeaux's happiness for jockey Marlon St. Julien, it would follow that baby Jacob will be taught about the wonder of being color blind.

St. Julien will be the first black man to ride in the Derby since Henry King in 1921. Black jockeys dominated in the early years of the race. St. Julien dominated at Lone Star Park before making his move to the Kentucky circuit last year. "I hope I can set an example to others who don't have confidence in themselves," says St. Julien. "But I don't want to be known as the best black jockey of my time. I want to be known as one of the best jockeys of my time."

St. Julien is on the long shot Curule. "God put me on this earth for a reason," he says.

Maybe it was to be an inspiration to others as he hopes.

On the first Saturday in May 2000 maybe his role was to play the perfect counterpart to the jockey on the favorite, no matter the result.

One jockey might wonder whether sound if not heard is really sound. Another might wonder if all those sets of eyes looking down are seeking to distinguish between colors of silks and not of men.

(Kent Desormeaux opened his own web site on Friday. www.intheirons.com)