by Jeff Lowe

An owner breaking into a baritone serenade a few feet away from a muck pile on Monday morning at Churchill Downs could only signal the return of Louie Roussel III and Ronnie Lamarque to the Kentucky Derby (G1).
 
At Roussel's urging, Lamarque crooned a few lines from the song he wrote for Risen Star, the 1988 champion three-year-old male for the fun-loving partners from New Orleans. Risen Star finished third to Winning Colors in the Kentucky Derby, before firing off victories in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1).
 
Lamarque has yet to craft a song about Illinois Derby (G2) winner Recapturetheglory, whose name could prove to be difficult for writing lyrics but very easy for evoking memories of their success 20 years ago.
 
The opportunity is especially significant to Roussel after he was not able to train for four years due to back problems.
 
Roussel, who has undergone three surgeries for herniated discs, did not start a horse in 2004, '05, '06, and '07. He began training again this winter at Fair Grounds.
 
"I thought people that had back problems were people trying to take things easy," said Roussel, "I didn't realize how painful it is. When you have back problems, you manage the pain everyday. Now, I feel so sorry for people in pain everyday. It's a tough situation and you can't get yourself feeling good. The pain got to be too much for me, but after three operations, I'm feeling better and now I'm back. I could have gone back sooner, but I wanted to make sure I was feeling good."

Roussel said his return was not directly tied to the potential he saw in Recapturetheglory, a Cherokee Run colt he purchased for $215,000 in the Fasig-Tipton Calder selected sale of two-year-olds in training.

"I was feeling good, so I took three horses to the Fair Grounds myself," Roussel said. "I didn't have an assistant. I was down there and enjoyed it and felt strong. If the back started hurting, I'd have just stopped."

Recapturetheglory, who won one of four starts as a two-year-old for trainer Lara Van Deren, was one the three horses Roussel oversaw this winter. He finished third in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance race on February 29 at Fair Grounds in his only start this year prior to the Illinois Derby.

Roussel and Lamarque put up $6,000 to make him eligible for the Triple Crown in the late nomination period, which closed on March 29. A week later, Recapturetheglory rocketed to a four-length win in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course.

"I ran him on the grass and my partner says, 'He was short off the bench,' " Roussel said on Monday with Lamarque listening with a grin a few feet away. "I said, 'No he wasn't. He got real fast fractions inside and outside pressure, and he really didn't handle the grass that well.’
 
“I got a couple works into him and he was doing those in queens plates [horseshoes] without any toes in the shoes. He was laboring to get those works without any toe grabs. When he got to Chicago, he got shod with toe grabs and we were ready to go. He galloped into the race and we were ready to go."

Roussel, a lawyer who owned Fair Grounds from 1984 to 1990, is clearly relishing the chance to train again and trade good-natured barbs with his partner with a chance at glory on Saturday.
 
"When I came here in 1988, I just thought I was going to win the race, that it would be very easy, and I found out that this is the ultimate race to win," Roussel said. "You want to see them do better because the competition will increase from what he faced in the Illinois Derby.
 
“There's an old saying, 'The women look better at closing time.' I look at him and I say, 'Man he's looking better than he did yesterday,' because you want him to be better. You give him more and more to see if he can handle it. You keep questioning yourself. For a guy like me that's kind of over the hill, it's kind of like playing mind games with yourself. It's easy to play mind games when you don't come here with a champion like Risen Star."

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer