LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kristin Mulhall acts as if the Kentucky Derby is just another race. She isn't fooling anyone.

The 21-year-old Californian really is cool and calm about having a legitimate chance at becoming the first female trainer to win the Derby. She will saddle Imperialism against such veterans as Bob Baffert, Bobby Frankel and Nick Zito.

And if Imperialism wins the 130th Derby on Saturday, Mulhall would break the record for youngest winning trainer set by James Rowe Sr., who was 24 when he led Hindoo to victory in 1881.

"I never dreamed I'd be here, especially this early," said Mulhall, who earned her trainer's license just two years ago.

She might not be here except for a freak injury in 2001: A sharp object punctured her arm while she hung equipment on the wall of a barn. Her arm was infected, then she tore muscles in it and was prevented from riding in an international show horse meet.

While recuperating, she galloped thoroughbreds at Del Mar. A year later, Mulhall passed the test for a trainer's license, defying a father who didn't want the hard life of the racetrack for his daughter.

"I was against it," said Richard Mulhall, a former trainer and manager for The Thoroughbred Corp., owned by the late Saudi Prince Ahmed bin Salman. "The backstretch can be a very difficult place for girls, and she's young. But she's a great horsewoman and knows how to take care of herself."

The elder Mulhall never started a horse in the Derby. "She's a much better trainer than her father was," Frankel said.

Only nine women have saddled Derby horses; Shelley Riley came closest to winning when her Casual Lies was second in 1992.

Mulhall grew up a few furlongs from Santa Anita, where the smell of hay and manure became like perfume to her. "It's where I was raised, basically," she said, smiling.

She's comfortable getting into the stalls with her horses, even curling up for a nap next to the 1,100-pound animals when she was younger. Mulhall is hands-on, mixing her own feed and exercising several of her horses in the mornings. Frankel and Baffert hire people to do those chores.

Frankel was impressed by Mulhall while watching her work during the winter at Hollywood Park, where they are based.

"She loves it, and she puts her heart and soul in it," he said. "She works very hard. She had the opportunity, and she made good of it. A lot of people get the opportunity, and they can't do it."

Initially, Mulhall's father helped her get horses to train, but Frankel eschews any suggestion that she hasn't succeeded on her own merits.

"She calls her own shots," he said. "She's got a good feel for this business."

Mulhall has about 40 horses in her barn, including 14 for Steve Taub, who owns Imperialism.

They met one morning at Santa Anita. Mulhall's first impression? "I just thought he was nuts," she said, dissolving into laughter. "He was asking me all these weird questions, and I didn't know he was going to give me horses. He asked me if I drank, if I took drugs."

The perpetually tan Taub is a physical fitness buff. He doesn't drink and is usually in bed by 9 p.m. Mulhall is in the barn at 4:30 a.m. most days, her blond ponytail bobbing from under a riding helmet.

"She's an amazing person. She has no highs and no lows," Taub said of the fresh-faced trainer he describes as "this little throwback teenage girl."

Mulhall isn't in awe of Churchill Downs because she's been here many times with her father, including when War Emblem, owned by The Thoroughbred Corp., won the Derby two years ago. The late prince was her godfather.

"I try to act like it's another race and try to keep everyone calm and keep the horses calm and keep everything the same," she said.

But Taub is here for the first time, and he's excited.

"It's kind of like going to Yankee Stadium and seeing the 'House that Ruth Built,'" he said.

He arrived a week ago and sat by himself in the grandstand, taking in the sweeping view of the track and listening to the hammering of workers preparing for Derby Day.

After the sun went down, he got up to leave, but the nearest gate was padlocked. Three other gates also were locked. So he walked down to the dirt track and threw his 155-pound body over the rail.

Taub jogged from the finish line to the stable area, jumped the rail again, found an open gate and ran 30 minutes back to his hotel. He plans to maintain his jogging habit all week.

"We call this the fun barn," he said, "and we have a blast back here."