The hard edge and the Brooklyn accent are still there, even after more than 30 years in mellow Southern California. They're up front in the Daily Racing Form television ad where Bobby Frankel mocks "idiots, morons and suckers" for making hunch bets and says, "Hunches? Fahgetaboudem!" Dis is so New Yawk dat it hurts.

As well as Frankel comes across in the commercial, he admits he's "not really a camera guy," and he'll never win any popularity contests among the media. He's drawn fire for asking that the Kentucky Derby horde not disturb him until after training hours end at 9:15 a.m., an annoying request by the trainer of the heaviest Derby favorite in 11 years, Empire Maker. Anyone who's dealt with Frankel wasn't surprised.

Steve Haskin, a longtime chronicler of America's Race, once wrote that during Derby week, no journalist ever should slide up to Frankel while he's having breakfast on the backstretch and ask to join him. Another racing writer recently said he's never asked Frankel a question when the reply didn't come with a sneer. Frankel's horses will draw the most money Saturday, but he won't be a sentimental favorite.

Like many superachievers, Frankel has a quick temper and does not suffer fools gladly. Which is why Dr. John Chandler, president of Juddmonte Farms, Empire Maker's owner/breeder, is edgy about how Frankel will cope with the media circus.

"Next week will be a zoo," Chandler said last week. "His whole life, he's dealt with professional racing reporters, people who know something about what to ask him questions about. But he's going to be dealing with the most unbelievable barrage of questions like you cannot believe from people who are covering it on a one-shot deal. Things like 'If you don't win this year, will you run him in the Derby next year?' He told me somebody already had asked him that.

"So it's going to be interesting to see how he handles next week. I'm looking toward it with some trepidation ... He's going to be dealing with such irrelevant stuff, such as 'What did you have for breakfast?' I'm scared about how far some people will get to him."

It might set Frankel off, but it won't intimidate him. There's still a lot of streetwise kid in the 61-year-old Hall of Famer who started from the bottom. In the late '50s, while in high school, he was cutting class and caddying in the mornings to get betting money for Aqueduct and Belmont Park, where excellent handicapping and steely nerve led to many scores. In 1964 he began as a hot walker at the Big A and Belmont "because it was the best way to get in."

Since taking out his trainer's license in 1966, he's won just about everything possible: dozens of meet titles, more than 200 stakes, millions of dollars and four Eclipse Awards, including the last three in a row. Yet he's never lifted the winner's trophy after the race that means more than any other, the Derby. Many people expect him to do that Saturday, when he will send out Empire Maker as well as Edmund Gann's Peace Rules, the likely second choice.

Oddly, for all of Frankel's success, he has been a money-burner on thoroughbred racing's four biggest Saturdays -- the Derby, Preakness, Belmont and the Breeders' Cup. He was a bewildering 0-for-38 in the autumn championships until Squirtle Squirt won the 2001 Sprint. His Triple Crown drought is 0-for-8, with second-place finishes by Aptitude in the 2000 Derby and Belmont and by Medaglia d'Oro in last year's Belmont.

Only in recent years has Frankel made a serious assault on the Triple Crown. He has sent out only four runners in the Derby, three of them in the past four years. He's saddled just two in the Preakness (neither hit the board) and two in the Belmont, where both ran second.

Empire Maker's rider, Jerry Bailey, dismisses the notion of a Frankel jinx in the classics.

"Heck no, I've won it twice," Bailey said. "He hadn't won a Breeders' Cup, but we won with Squirtle Squirt. [Never winning before] doesn't mean anything. He had the right horse, that's all.

" ... [Bobby] obviously doesn't make any mistakes, he pays attention to details. I don't think I'm going to make too many mistakes, and whatever I do I think [Empire Maker] is good enough to overcome. Distance is always something that's in the back of your mind and it has never been a worry with this horse . I think that's his strong suit."

Empire Maker's final Derby workout Sunday at Churchill offered no comfort to his challengers. He breezed 6 furlongs in a quick 1:12 3/5 in company without ever being extended.

"This was perfect," Frankel said. "I could tell when they broke off he was going real good and I could tell when they galloped out that it was a good work. When he came back, he wasn't blowing at all. I am just glad to get this out of the way."

He'll be infinitely more relieved Saturday night, especially if Empire Maker does what's expected of him.