By The Associated Press

HAGERMAN, Idaho - For the first time ever, an Idaho horse will race in the Kentucky Derby.

"It's almost unbelievable," said breeder Donnie McFadden. "An Idaho horse ridden by a jockey from Idaho with a trainer who worked in Idaho. The odds of that happening are about like those of winning the lottery."

McFadden and his wife, Judy, are Buddy Gil's breeders and, with four partners, his co-owners. Boise native Gary Stevens, a three-time Derby winner, will be the 3-year-old's jockey Saturday. And trainer Jeff Mullins got his start at Boise's Les Bois track.

All are hoping for some Idaho magic Saturday at Churchill Downs.

"He doesn't have the pedigree, he doesn't have the glamour of the big-name horses, he just has that desire to win," Donnie McFadden said.

The once obscure horse from Idaho seemed to come out of nowhere to win the Baldwin Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 23, beating 26 to 1 odds. On March 16, he finished first in a longer race against better competition at San Felipe, Calif. And on April 5, he stunned the racing world by winning the prestigious Santa Anita Derby, becoming the first horse ever to sweep the three races.

His lifetime earnings of $729,000, more than $600,000 of it this year, qualified him for the Kentucky Derby.

Buddy Gil's pedigree, his unassuming owners and his unconventional training are a blue-collar contrast to blueblood racing tradition. Kentucky Derby horses typically belong to the rich and the famous, who spare no expense on their breeding and training. Stud fees alone range from $300,000 to $500,000.

Buddy Gil's mother was a mare at the Billingsley Creek Ranch. His Kentucky sire, Eastern Echo, had a stud fee of only $3,000. The son of a winner at the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, the races that with the Kentucky Derby comprise racing's elite Triple Crown, Eastern Echo was undefeated when an injury ended his career.

Ever the realist, McFadden did not think the horse from Hagerman could win at the San Felipe Stakes or the Santa Anita Derby. At a mile and a quarter, the Kentucky Derby is longer than either, a serious challenge for a horse whose stamina is unproven at that distance.

"Whether he has the heart for it we'll just have to see," McFadden said. "But I've learned not to count him out."