LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The wise guys set the odds of trainer Larry Demeritte winning Kentucky Derby 150 at 50-1 but the wise guys don't know the rest of the story.

Follow along. Odds are you'll agree that 50,000-1 doesn't touch it.

Demeritte was 2 weeks old when his mother handed him to his grandmother to raise in a home where 13 children split two bedrooms. They prayed daily that God would provide another meal. His father was nearby in Nassau, The Bahamas, but Demeritte said his dad shared his time between two families.

What year was that?

All Demeritte will do is wink and talk past that question. I cannot tell you where Demeritte would rank on the list of oldest trainers to win the race IF somehow West Saratoga scores late Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

The age marker I can provide is Demeritte is six years older than he was in 2018 when doctors in Lexington informed him that cancer and an aggressive auto-immune disease were attacking his organs, especially his heart.

"They told me nobody lived longer than six months with those diseases," Demeritte said.

When Demeritte welcomed local photographer George Williams and a half-dozen kids carrying cameras to barn 42 on Wednesday morning, the inspiring trainer left them with plenty of photo opportunities and a life lesson that he shares with everybody he encounters.

"Don't let your friends tell you what you can't do," he said. "If they tell you what you can't do, they're not really a good friend.

"If I listened to people who told me what I can't do, I wouldn't be here.

"Listen to friends and people who tell you what you can do. Because if you believe, you can do anything you want."

Faith is a powerful piece of the Larry Demeritte Story. If West Saratoga wins the Derby, you can scratch the morning-after news conference at Churchill Downs.

A devout Christian, Demeritte never goes to the race track Sunday mornings. That time is reserved for God, starting with a 9:45 a.m. Bible study class at Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church in Midway, Kentucky. Worship service follows at 11.

Demeritte brought Harry Veruchi, the colt's owner, to the campus last weekend. He extended an invitation to others he encountered around his barn all week.

"I don't ever sit and worry about what I'm dealing with," Demeritte said. "I always say that my faith controls me. I don't control my faith.

"I strongly believe in the scriptures. I strongly believe in that governing my life, regardless of what other people say. And I know that's not popular all the time but I'm not here for a popularity contest. I'm here to serve my Almighty. That's the way I live my life."

Demeritte takes zero credit for guiding West Saratoga to this moment or for becoming only the second Black trainer since 1951 to saddle a Derby horse. He will credit others who blessed him, starting with his grandmother. She set him on the path of faith, backed with a worldly curiosity and a relentless work ethic.

"She taught us how to love each other and be there for each other," Demeritte said. "We didn't have a lot of money and stuff but we had a lot of values."

He started grooming, walking and caring for horses as a young boy in Nassau. That led to occasional trips to Florida for races at Hialeah, Gulfstream and Calder. That led to trips to horse sales and farms in locations like Ocala, Florida. That led to opportunities to work the circuit with American trainers, especially Oscar Dishman Jr., who was based in Lexington, winning the Isaac Murphy Award in 19933 and recognized as the racing's outstanding Black Trainer in 1978.

That convinced Demeritte to stay in the U.S. and learn the Kentucky, Florida, Illinois circuit. He earned his trainer's license in 1981, saddling six horses. None hit the board.

Demeritte did not win his first race until Dec. 19, 1984, when Tom Tale scored at Latonia in Northern Kentucky. It was the trainer's 49th race.

Remember: Never listen to friends who tell you what you can't do. Listen to people who tell you what you can do.

Demeritte kept grinding — just as his grandmother suggested. His barn never won more than two races in a calendar year until 1992. His stable had its first $100,000 earnings year in 2000. It was 2005 before his barn won 10 races in a single year.

On Saturday, in his 44th year of training, Demeritte will saddle his first horse to the Derby, roughly the 2,066th race of his career.

"I never knew if I would get to the Derby or not, but I prayed," Demeritte said. "That's my will, but if that's not God's will I can accept whatever Your will is for me.

"That's what I prayed many times. I seek God every day. That's how I live my life, not to be disappointed if I didn't get to the Derby. I didn't know. You know what I come to do. If He grabbed me with it, I would use it for His glory."

There's more. West Saratoga was one that final 15 yearlings in the sales ring at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. During a sale where 162 yearlings fetched at least $500,000, Demeritte convinced Veruchi that he could do great things with a colt they purchased for $11,000.

Veruchi named him for the street where he grew up in Littleton, Colorado and then trusted Demeritte to do the rest.

And Demeritte has. Although West Saratoga has won only a pair of his 10 career starts, one was 1-mile score at the Iroquois Stakes last September at Churchill Downs. The frisky gray colt has finished third or better in 8 of 10 career starts, earning more than $460,000. He'll start in post position 13 and was carrying odds of 50-to-1 Thursday morning.

"Larry loves this horse and why wouldn't he?" Veruchi said. "He has a reason to go to work."

One thing more. After beating all those odds, is anybody surprised that Demeritte has also left cancer 10 lengths behind him?

It was 2018 when Demeritte saw blood in his urine. Doctors in Lexington diagnosed multiple myeloma and another auto-immune disease. Six months was the hard diagnosis.

Six years later, Demeritte credits a team of doctors at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. A bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy and his Christian faith have carried Demeritte and West Saratoga all the way to the first Saturday in May.

"I hope that I inspire people," Demeritte said. "If I don't inspire people, I'm not carrying out my calling."