Hansen could be the first white horse ever to win a Kentucky Derby

The two-year-old champion colt named Hansen will not be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby on May 5, but most eyes will unavoidably be upon him. You see, in a field of chestnuts and bays, Hansen is a brilliant white. Well, technically he's a gray, but without boring you with equine pigmentation detail, thoroughbred grays, like the great Native Dancer, turn whiter as they grow older, and Hansen is simply prematurely white -- sort of a four-legged Steve Martin. To emphasize the alabaster, his owner wanted to dye his tail blue for the Blue Grass Stakes, but the stick-in-the-mud racing officials thought that was tacky.

But as rare as white horses are -- less than eight percent -- it is amazing how they've fascinated virtually every culture. White horses are chosen to stand for good ... and for bad. One of the four horsemen of the Apolocalpyse rides a pale horse, but the unicorn -- which is invariably depicted as white -- stands for purity. Only virgins can capture unicorns. But contrariwise, in some cultures white horses represent fertility. Take your pick.

But white horses stand for power and glory, too. In the book of Revelation, not only Jesus, but all the armies of heaven will descend astride white horses. In politics, "the man on the white horse" invariably refers to the leader who is going to save us. When Peale and Trumbull famously painted George Washington with a horse, the father of our country's steed is white. For the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee's famous mount, Traveler, really was a white horse.

White horses are just as common in fiction. Pegasus is a white horse. So was the Little White Pony doll, and in Shrek, the donkey turns into a white horse. Even in nursery rhyme: "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross to see a fine lady upon a white horse." And currently in rock, Taylor Swift sings: "It's too late for you and your white horse to catch me now." Even though nobody but the infamous Peeping Tom is supposed to have seen Lady Godiva ride in the buff through the streets of Coventry, she's invariably portrayed astride a white steed. And of course after Dusty, his noble chestnut, was killed by bad guys, the Lone Ranger found a new mount. Yes!

"Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

It's amazing. For being such a small minority in the animal world, nobody pops up in so many cultures in so many places, representing so many different things, good and bad, as white horses. However, in the one hundred and thirty-seven Kentucky Derbys, seven gray colts have won, and Winning Colors, a roan with a white face, was a filly who beat the boys in 1988, but no horse so pale as ivory as Hansen has ever won.

Hansen likes to go to the front, and as they turn for home Saturday, will he still be there, on top? Here they come now, down the stretch but instead of my old Kentucky Home, this year maybe we'll hear the William Tell Overture...

Published May 2, 2012

FRANK DEFORD

Frank Deford is among the most versatile of American writers. His work has appeared in virtually every medium, including print, where he has written eloquently for Sports Illustrated since 1962. Deford is currently the magazine's Senior Contributing Writer and contributes a weekly column to SI.com. Deford can be heard as a commentator each week on Morning Edition. On television he is a regular correspondent on the HBO show Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of 15 books, and his latest,The Enitled, a novel about celebrity, sex and baseball, was published in 2007 to exceptional reviews. He and Red Smith are the only writers with multiple features in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. Editor David Halberstam selected Deford's 1981 Sports Illustrated profile on Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter) and his 1985 SI profile of boxer Billy Conn (The Boxer and the Blonde) for that prestigious anthology. For Deford the comparison is meaningful. "Red Smith was the finest columnist, and I mean not just sports columnist," Deford told Powell's Books in 2007. "I've always said that Red is like Vermeer, with those tiny, priceless pieces. Five hundred words, perfectly chosen, crafted. Best literary columnist, in any newspaper, that I've ever seen." Deford was elected to the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. Six times at Sports Illustrated Deford was voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation's finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Deford has also been presented with the National Magazine Award for profiles; a Christopher Award; and journalism honor awards from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University; and he has received many honorary degrees. The Sporting News has described Deford as "the most influential sports voice among members of the print media," and the magazine GQ has called him, simply, "The world's greatest sportswriter." In broadcast, Deford has won a Cable Ace award, an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for his television work. In 2005 ESPN presented a television biography of Deford's life and work, You Write Better Than You Play. Deford has spoken at well over a hundred colleges, as well as at forums, conventions and on cruise ships around the world. He served as the editor-in-chief of The National Sports Daily in its brief but celebrated existence. Deford also wrote Sports Illustrated's first Point After column, in 1986. Two of Deford's books, the novel, Everybody's All-American, and Alex: The Life Of A Child, his memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into movies. Two of his original screenplays have also been filmed. For 16 years Deford served as national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains chairman emeritus. He resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Carol. They have two grown children – a son, Christian, and a daughter, Scarlet. A native of Baltimore, Deford is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has taught American Studies.

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