If you are a horse but not a thoroughbred, you are out of luck today. And so are thoroughbreds older than three.

For two minutes in Louisville, Kentucky, the eyes of the world will be on the 1.25 miles of Churchill Downs. With thousands of bets at stake, adults and kids who swarm into Kentucky by air and in SUVs will watch as jockeys mount thoroughbreds and hope to give fans what has been called “the most exciting two minutes in sport.”

It means if you pause to scratch your butt, it is over. If you are unlucky to entertain the thought of Barbara Walters and that senator at that moment, before you recover you must have missed the only remaining show that gives us an idea what a horse power is.

The Run of the Roses as it is often called brings to mind the other run that has been going on for fifteen months now – the presidential race – a run to own the rose garden for four years with an option to renew once. Thinking of Kentucky Derby, I cannot help but wish the race for the White House will be over in two minutes.

All over the world, there are constant attempts to breed the perfect stallion that will grow up to win the Derby. Breeders spend thousands of dollars without a guaranteed payoff. But the same can be said of the presidential race. Some community college products, children of single mothers often win the prize that children of millionaires, ex-presidents, ex-governors, and millionaire trophy spouses go for but often fail to grab.

The winner of the Derby is set to take home over $5 million dollars while the winner of the presidential race will take home $400,000 a year. The Derby champion achieves glory and fame and goes on to try for the Triple Crown - Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The winner of the presidential race becomes the most powerful man or woman in the world and the leader of the free world.

The Derby winner eventually retires and is put down. The president eventually retires and goes on to make $109 in eight years. Not even an ambitious wife can put him down.

Wagers at the Derby run into millions of dollars. In 2005, it was 118.4 million. The presidential race has taken in five times that if you count how much Clinton, Obama and McCain have collected so far.

The business of breeding thoroughbred is over $1.5 billion business. In 2006, a colt with promises was auctioned out for $16 million. So far it has earned back only $10,000. More like the colt from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, whose run for president cost his family millions with little in returns.

Though it is hard to predict which colt will win a Derby, many still try to breed and bet on them. The same with the political parties and the dozens of candidates they manufacture and unleash on the electorates. It is hard to know which one will perform and which one will be an abysmal disappointment like George W. Bush.

Sometime today, a blanket of 554 roses will be draped on a horse by men drunk on Mint Julep. For the rest of us, we will have to endure the presidential race until November 4th when we will know which presidential candidate will take ownership of the rose garden.

Maybe like the Derby, we will test our presidential candidates for drugs. Get them to wear the log of lobbyists and corporations whose money they have collected. Limit the presidential race to two minutes and open it to only thoroughbreds that are less than three years old. Such a move would have saved us from McCain, Clinton and Obama.