SELF IMPROVEMENT

colt is one from the heart When it comes to scoping out a Kentucky Derby winner, most years I spend hours studying my Daily Racing Form, scrutinizing Beyer speed figures, Tomlinson ratings, dosage indexes and all the other inscrutable handicapping tools that make horse racing as much fun as advanced trigonometry.

Not this year.

This year, I'm going with a local angle that comes straight from the heart.

Three years ago, horse trainer Kathy Ritvo of Davie was dying of heart disease. She needed a heart transplant to get a new lease on life.

In November 2008, she got one.

And now she's got a heart-pounding Kentucky Derby contender, too.

The name of her colt is Mucho Macho Man, and he's listed at 12-1 in the morning line odds for the Derby, which goes off Saturday at 6:24 p.m. on NBC.

Kathy Ritvo, 42, took over as Mucho Macho Man's trainer from her husband Tim last fall, when Tim took an executive role at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach.

The Ritvos are the kind of horseracing couple that go unheralded most of the time, working long hours to care for a stable of modest thoroughbreds that compete on the local South Florida circuit and northeastern tracks such as Belmont Park in New York and Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Just running in a Kentucky Derby, never mind winning one, is exciting enough.

But after all the Ritvos have been through, winning one would be the kind of fairytale ending that movies get made about.

Ritvo's successful transplant was performed at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. She still doesn't know who the donor was, because the family wanted to remain anonymous. She wrote a thank-you letter anyway.

Mucho Macho Man has a legitimate shot in a race that is wide open after the scratch of Uncle Mo, who was touted as a super horse before running a clunker in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct last month.

Mucho Macho Man starts from the No. 13 post in the field of 20, a number that might spook superstitious gamblers (but not Dan Marino fans).

But I'm throwing superstition -- and my Racing Form -- to the wind.

This year, I'm going with the local story that's also the best story.

This year, I'm going for a horse straight from the heart.