No prince of a deal for Wally Dollase.(The Orange County Register)

SANTA ANA, Calif. _ Wally Dollase stood in front of his barn at Santa Anita Race Track on Monday morning taking in the cool air and watching the 24 horses under his care go about their time-honored rituals.

He spent a few minutes chatting on the phone with his son Craig, also a trainer based at Hollywood Park. Craig's wife Nancy is days from becoming a first-time mother and making Wally a five-time grandfather.

"Things are OK," the elder Dollase, 63, said. "I've got a few horses I have some hopes for. There's no point in dwelling on something I can't do anything about."

Still, Dollase acknowledged there have been a few minutes of each recent day when his mind wanders 2,500 miles to a 3-year-old in residence at Bob Baffert's barn at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

The colt, a 1,300-pound chestnut, is Point Given, the favorite to win Saturday's 127th running of the Kentucky Derby.

"Sure, I think about how nice it would be to be training Point Given," Dollase said. "You live for that kind of chance. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it."

But mostly he gets edgy when he reflects on the time he spent as the private trainer for Prince Ahmed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian potentate who bred and owns Point Given.