Derby trainer's heartwarming story

When one trainer sees another in the Kentucky Derby winner's circle, one thought is inevitable: Will that ever happen to me? Three years ago, that was not Kathy Ritvo's fantasy.

Ritvo watched the 2008 Derby from the critical care unit of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, wondering how much longer she'd be alive. She was suffering from cardiomyopathy, severe deterioration of the heart muscle, which caused her brother Louie Petro's death in 1996.

"I was just surviving, trying to make it to the next day," said Ritvo, who then was 38, Louie's age when he died. "There were lots of times when I did say, 'Why me?' and broke down. Once you get through that, you have to get yourself together. It was not my time to go. I did not want to go."

Ritvo, a blonde with big, dark eyes, was hospitalized for most of the next six months, connected to an intravenous machine, before a donor provided a matching heart. After a 17-hour operation, her surgeon said without the transplant, she might not have lasted another week.

Not so long ago, Ritvo thought she'd never be able to function normally again; now she's training Mucho Macho Man for Saturday's Derby. Even in an event steeped in human-interest stories, this one is hard to top.

"Now I'm having a great life," Ritvo said. "I'm healthy for the first time in a really long time because somebody unselfishly donated a loved one's organs. It's just an amazing gift."

She tried to contact the donor family, whose identity she still doesn't know. She wrote a letter the hospital delivered but she never heard back. "I don't know if there are words for it," she said. "My two kids have their mother, and I'd just thank them for their decision. It's definitely kept me more grounded. I appreciate every day. And having a really nice horse like this is just great."

Even without her back story, Ritvo would be a sentimental favorite. No woman has trained a Derby winner, and in the past seven years, only seven of her 109 starters finished first. Because of her illness, from 2005-08 she had one starter. From a New England racing family, she began training at 18 at Suffolk Downs in East Boston. Her late father, Pete Petro, owned thoroughbreds. Her brother Michael trains, and brothers Nick and Louie became jockeys.

Her husband of 21 years, Tim Ritvo, rode and trained. Mucho Macho Man moved from his barn to Kathy's last fall after Tim became an executive at Gulfstream Park. "I'm so proud of Kathy after what she's been through," he said. "She's doing a great job and she's got the right horse."

"I say to Timmy, 'Ever since we met this horse, everything has gone right,' " Kathy said. "But Timmy always says, 'Kathy, ever since you got your heart, everything has gone right.' "

The son of Macho Uno is 7-for-8 in the money, with two wins and earnings of $410,643. He lived up to his name in the Louisiana Derby, finishing third by less than a length despite losing his right front shoe leaving the gate. "It definitely cost him the race," rider Rajiv Maragh said.

Co-owner Patti Reeves contacted The Village People, whose "Macho Man" was a hit in 1978. The offbeat band sent Ritvo an autographed photo, which hangs outside the horse's stall, and a "Macho Woman" T-shirt. The bay colt is tall (17 hands), long-bodied and towers over Ritvo. As the song's refrain goes: "Body!"

"He has a huge stride and he's very strong even when you're walking him," Ritvo said. "He was a little immature in the beginning, but he's matured by leaps and bounds. I think he'll like the 1¼-mile distance, and hopefully, he'll reach his peak when it's time."

Victory would send Ritvo to a trainer's happiest place on Earth. Disney could do the movie, and there would be no need to make anything up.