A week ago, the Blue Grass Stakes felt like a one-horse race. Tuesday, when the Saturday card was assembled, it seemed like a three-horse affair, but that did not last either. And after a pair of important defections, Further Ado and Reagan’s Honor head what will be, at most, a seven-horse Blue Grass on Saturday at Keeneland. Trainer Chad Brown had aimed undefeated Kentucky Derby favorite Paladin toward the Blue Grass all winter, but plans came apart when Paladin incurred an injury while breezing March 28. Class President, the Rebel Stakes winner, came out of the race Thursday. His trainer, Todd Pletcher, told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening that he didn’t like the way the colt had trained that morning. With Blue Grass entrant Ocelli going to the Wood Memorial, the Grade 1 Blue Grass is down to seven runners vying for a $1.25 million purse and 200 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby. The Blue Grass, the Wood, and the Santa Anita Derby are the last major races on Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby, the system that determines the 20 Derby runners. The first five finishers in each race get 100, 50, 25, 15, and 10 points, and coming into this weekend, a dozen Derby slots – nine Americans and three overseas horses – already were accounted for. Twenty-one horses currently outside the top 20 see action in one of Saturday’s preps. :: Keeneland Spring Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, picks, news, and more. Further Ado has 35 points, and for his connections to feel really good about making the Derby he’d need to finish third or better in the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass. If he can’t, he probably doesn’t belong in the Derby anyway. Great White, through his win in the Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park, has 20 points. Talkin, a well-beaten second in the Champagne last October and fifth in the Tampa Bay Derby, has 10 points, while Ottinho’s tame Withers third netted six points. Louisiana-bred Creole Chrome makes his first start outside statebred-restricted competition. Moonstrocity, winless in two starts, might struggle to win a Keeneland maiden race. Expectations run much higher for the other Blue Grass runner with no qualifying points. Thrice started Reagan’s Honor has gone 2 for 2 in routes, and the 96 Beyer Speed Figure he earned whipping older rivals by 6 3/4 lengths in a Fair Grounds allowance makes him no worse than a close second choice Saturday. Rain could play a role. It’s coming to Keeneland sometime late Saturday afternoon or early evening, and the Blue Grass goes at 6:22 p.m. Eastern. The deflated Blue Grass goes as the last of 11 races on a card with a 1 p.m. first post. A late pick five links the program’s five graded stakes, a sequence that includes seven-furlong dirt races for males and females, the Commonwealth and the Grade 1 Madison, and a pair of turf races, the Appalachian for sophomore filly routers and the Shakertown, an older-horse sprint that drew an overflow field and immediately precedes the Blue Grass. Further Ado announced himself as a Derby hope last fall at Keeneland. Brad Cox, who trains Further Ado for Spendthrift Farm, liked Further Ado enough to take him to Saratoga, and while he managed only a fifth and a third in two sprints there, those races set him up for a Keeneland tour de force. Stretched to a 1 1/16-mile route, Further Ado pressed the pace, seized the lead on the far turn, took a 10-length lead to the stretch call, and through the final half-furlong stretched his advantage to 20 lengths. The 11 horses he defeated, it turns out, were not so great. The 98 Beyer Speed Figure – pretty great for an October 2-year-old route. “His Keeneland race obviously was off the charts,” trainer Brad Cox said. “We’re looking for another one of those.” :: DRF Road to the Derby Package Available Now! Save 37% on key handicapping essentials through Kentucky Derby day. Further Ado has not delivered one in two races since. Granted, he won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs in his 2-year-old finale, but the form of that race has not worked out well either. The six horses behind Further Ado have since won one race – Cherokee Nation’s Santa Anita maiden score – from 13 starts. Further Ado, while performing decently, hardly allayed all skepticism in his 3-year-old bow when he finished second on March 7, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the Tampa Bay Derby. Further Ado after a clean stalking trip scrambled to hold second over Canaletto (since injured and off the Derby trail) while beaten by a horse who had suffered a wide trip. But when The Puma, the Tampa winner, came within a couple inches of capturing the Florida Derby last week, Further Ado’s performance took on added luster. “I looked at him as pretty good even before The Puma ran back,” Cox said. “I thought it was a good race, a demanding race, and I thought he responded the right way. We’re running him back in four weeks, and I like what we’ve seen from him since Tampa.” Further Ado will have Reagan’s Honor to catch, and his chances of doing so could hinge on Creole Chrome, Reagan’s Honor’s only serious pace rival. No runoff, Reagan’s Honor led in his route starts because he’s naturally fast, said trainer Cherie DeVaux, who already has Golden Tempo in the Derby. DeVaux ran Reagan’s Honor against older foes Feb. 19 strictly because of timing. He’d cleared the maiden ranks Jan. 17 and needed to run again, and DeVaux wanted to ensure Reagan’s Honor had sufficient recovery time if he proved worthy of a stakes start. During the six weeks since Reagan’s Honor’s race, DeVaux has seen him change physically. Reagan’s Honor has added muscle and heft – just seems like a stronger, more mature horse, she said. Reagan’s Honor after setting a fast pace in his allowance score hit the wire still going strong. His dam is a sister to Derby winner Giacomo and Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago, and Reagan’s Honor figures to stay 1 1/8 miles. So does Great White, so named because of stature and coat. Trainer John Ennis has measured and weighed this massive colt, who stands 17 hands 2 1/2 and tips the scale at about 1,350 pounds. Somehow, this behemoth won a six-furlong Turfway Park maiden race in his debut. “He’s quick! He’s doing things a horse this big at this age shouldn’t be doing,” Ennis said. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Great White’s second out came in the one-mile Leonatus, where a poor start and an inside trip kept him from showing his best. Breaking better in the Battaglia, Great White looked like a winner while stalking the pace wide around the far turn, but after easily making the lead, he did what he does in the morning, Ennis said – pull himself up. Fulleffort, who returned to win the Jeff Ruby Steaks, closed to within a neck, but Great White quickly opened up again on the gallop-out. Great White has worked on dirt throughout his career. Ennis has no doubt he’ll race as well on Keeneland dirt as on Turfway Tapeta. “He’s freaky. I don’t know where his ceiling is,” Ennis said. We know the Blue Grass ceiling: Seven runners, no standout. A couple of them are going to the Derby. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.