LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ Iconic broadcaster Bob Costas will paint the scene in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby, shaping the sadness and soaring triumph born out of the deadly Dec. 7 fire at San Luis Rey Downs.
NBC colleague Mike Tirico will detail how Mick Ruis of El Cajon, Calif., steadfastly refused to allow meager means to dictate the direction of a remarkable life.
In the hours leading up to the 144th Derby, the network's collective lens will focus squarely on San Diego County as an expected 15 million or so viewers settle in for horse racing's day in the spotlight. The two biggest features on NBC's Derby Day coverage Saturday center on the San Diego area's four-legged roots.
At San Luis Rey, 46 horses perished and three people were injured as a hellish fire jumped along the palm trees with stunning quickness and devastation. The flames wobbled horse racing, but also showcased its enormous heart as donations flowed in from around the world.
Burned horses returned to the winner's circle with uplifting frequency and workers, like burned trainer Joe Herrick and injured outrider Les Baker, rushed back to a sport and place that threatened their lives.
"It is more than a horse racing story, otherwise it would be just another story for people who read the racing form," Costas told the Union-Tribune. "What Kentucky Derby coverage is about, especially given its length and the breadth of its audience, which is not confined to railbirds by any means, it's a national event, it's a piece of Americana, so you want human stories."
Tirico huddled with Ruis on Wednesday outside of Barn 42 on the backside of Churchill Downs, picking up bits and pieces of his stirring story. And what a story Ruis has to tell.
There's the tenacious drive of a high school dropout, never caving to the work world's long hours or lingering lessons. When the owner and trainer of Derby hopeful Bolt d'Oro started a business tiling swimming pools at 18, for one painful example, no one explained payroll taxes.
Ruis said he owed the IRS $54,000. He paid back every cent. Undeterred, he built two wildly successful scaffolding companies.
Those who know Ruis best say his road _ from duct-taped shoes as a kid, to jeans and T-shirts as a multi-millionaire, and now to Churchill Downs _ hardly changed him. Not surprisingly, the relative newcomer to big-stage racing is wowing again in a sport saturated with deep generational roots.
"In this day and age, when the best horses are trained by those elite trainers, the Pletchers, the Bafferts, the Chad Browns and the ownership groups with multiple horses," Tirico said, "it's almost like that neighborhood store that's trying to stand out in the era of superstores."
Producer David Picker helped guide both stories, including a trip to the San Luis Rey training center two weeks ago. The trip, which included a day at Del Mar racetrack, led to interviews with Baker, trainer Peter Miller, San Luis Rey general manager Kevin Habell and others.
The visual scars had healed, but the mental and emotional ones stir still.
"I was expecting to see, visually, something a lot worse," said Picker, who estimated the piece will run between 3-4 minutes. "People had to point out where the fire came from and which direction it went because you couldn't necessarily tell. A lot of the area has grown back since the fire.
"The facility felt smaller to me at first. Then I had to realize, well it's because half of it burned down."
The potential power of the piece, Picker said, rests less in what you can see and more in what those involved felt.
"Everybody that we spoke to had a tremendous story to tell," he said. "When it caught the barns, panic ensued and people had to respond. Their stories were harrowing."
Tirico also has been working on a story about the owners of Derby entrant Vino Rosso _ Vincent Viola and Mike Repole.
Viola, the delightfully disarming Brooklynite, used to stand watch over racetrack tote boards as a kid while his father sneaked off for a scotch or two. He collected Churchill's last bunch of roses with Always Dreaming.
Repole started as a stock boy in Queens, N.Y.
"It reminds me of Mick, as well," Tirico said. "These guys have made an incredible amount of money and are so financially successful, yet they are the everyday guy. They are so approachable and so likable, that underdog you can root for.
"That, in a sport where you can't talk to the real starts, truly helps connect people with this event."
San Diego, that sounds like appointment television.
