By Steve Wilstein
AP Sports Columnist

Horse racing doesn't have to worry about the Kentucky Derby cheating probe staining the sport.

Suspicions of chicanery are already so rife that the latest brush with scandal, bogus as it turned out to be, won't matter. It might even help.

"People who never knew anything about racing are reading about it and maybe they'll watch the Preakness now," Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel said Monday, after jockey Jose Santos was cleared of wrongdoing in Funny Cide's Derby victory.

Frankel watched with eagerness then bemusement as the investigation unfolded and faded away.

No one had more to gain than Frankel, who's never won a Triple Crown race, if Santos had been found guilty of giving Funny Cide an illegal jolt with something other than a whip.

The new winner would have been Frankel's Empire Maker, who finished second. "If (Santos) had done something wrong, I would have felt good about me being put up, but he didn't do anything wrong," he said.

The integrity of the sport was at stake, many in racing worried. Reputations would be ruined. Bettors would be turned off.

All of which made Frankel laugh.

He thought about Tonya Harding in figure skating, Mike Tyson in boxing. The bigger the scandals, the bigger they and their sports got.

"People remember Tonya Harding more than they remember Nancy Kerrigan," Frankel said. "Can anything be more negative in boxing than Mike Tyson? And every time he fights, everybody wants to see him.

"If there was a scandal in racing, I don't think it would have been bad. All the publicity we can get is good. It makes it all that much more intriguing. The people that gamble, they'd still keep on gambling. It might bring new people in."

There have enough cases of drugged horses over the years to raise suspicions that illegal drugs pervade the sport. Some bettors swear jockeys occasionally hold back their nags to fix a race.

There are bettors who have been caught doing dishonest things themselves.

Frankel's point, and he's probably right, is that even a scandal in America's biggest horse race would be a boost for a sport that has been struggling at all levels.

On a personal level, though, he never gave much credence to the suggestion that Santos cheated. As soon as Frankel heard a few days ago that the stewards at Churchill Downs were examining a photograph of Santos that purportedly showed something in his right hand other than the whip, Frankel did his own little investigation. He turned on his computer and watched reruns of the race over and over.

"I watched it carefully," he said. "I didn't see anything that possibly could have been cheating. After I watched the reruns, I knew nothing was going to happen."

The photo showed a dark area in the space between Santos' hand and his whip as he crossed the finish line. When the stewards looked at the photo magnified 250 times, it turned out to be two things: the silks of Empire Maker's jockey, Jerry Bailey, and part of a strap from his goggles.

The decision was a relief for Santos. "I am thankful this nightmare is over," he said. "A week ago, I was in the happiest moment of my life. And then this photograph came in, in Miami, and destroyed my career, actually."

"In this game, integrity is important for us and for the gamblers," trainer Bob Baffert said. "The bad thing is that it's the Kentucky Derby - our most sacred race - and that's why it's such a big deal."

Maybe. But sometimes a touch of scandal doesn't hurt.

Racing allegations nothing new

The Thoroughbred Times points out previous allegations of wrongdoing on the Triple Crown trail:

• Dancer's Image crossed the finish line first in the 1968 Derby but was later disqualified for racing under a prohibited medication. Forward Pass was declared the winner and owner Calumet Farm was awarded first-place purse money and the gold cup Derby trophy.

• An investigation was launched in 1995 when jockey Gary Stevens, who won that year's Derby aboard Thunder Gulch, allegedly handed jockey Pat Day an object after they passed the finish line. Day was riding Thunder Gulch's stablemate, Timber Country. No action was taken.

• Four years later, Billy Patin was found to be carrying a buzzer after winning the Arkansas Derby aboard Valhol. Valhol was disqualified, while Patin received a five-year suspension.

• The latest controversy came seven months after the Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick Six scandal rocked the racing industry after three former fraternity brothers altered a pari-mutuel ticket that would have yielded a payoff of more than $3 million.

Preakness update

D. Wayne Lukas plans to saddle two horses Saturday in his bid to win the Preakness for the sixth time.

The Hall of Fame trainer, who already entered Scrimshaw in the $1 million race, informed the Pimlico racing office Monday he will also bring Ohio-bred Ten Cents a Shine.

Ten Cents a Shine finished eighth at the Kentucky Derby, three spots ahead of Scrimshaw.

Saturday's 128th Preakness has a tentative field of 12 starters, including Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide and Derby third Peace Rules.

Also probable are: Alysweep, Champali, Cherokee's Boy, Foufa's Warrior, Kissin Saint, Midway Road, New York Hero and Senor Swinger.

Entries will be taken Wednesday.