Derby hopeful offers insight on Web site.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ From the $50 mare he began with, Robert Courtney Sr.'s long life with horses has taken him through some high ends of the business to_a talking horse?

Well, not Mr. Ed. But a horse that makes Mr. Ed-like pronouncements from its own Web site.

That's Dollar Bill, the Kentucky Derby hopeful Courtney bred. If someone had said horse racing would come this far when Courtney got in it before World War II, he might have thought they were talking science fiction.

But fast-forward a few years and Courtney is having fun reading Dollar Bill-isms downloaded by the office staff at his farm in Lexington. Dollar Bill's Web site (www.dollarbill.ws) was the inspiration of the horse's owners, Gary and Mary West of Omaha, Neb. The horse muses on the Web for the enlightenment of his fans that he calls Billsters:

"Billsters I let me tell ya' somethin' I fame is fleetin' for a racehorse. It's purely a game of `what have ya' done for me lately'. Memories of good races are as short as Bill Clinton's memory during a Grand Jury deposition. Understandin' this bit of human nature is a real advantage in the gamblin' game."

Dollar Bill is rationalizing here about his two recent losses: the Louisiana Derby and the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. And yes, his musings do sound like the ramblings of that infamous palomino of black and white TV, Mr. Ed, who philosophized over the stable door. He always began his ramblings with a drawn-out "Wilbuuur I"

Well, Biiiillsters I here's Dollar Bill's advice for you: