With finishing touches being applied, more than 20 entries expected

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Just a few minor touches were being made on Monday as the Kentucky Derby neared, with a field that looked as though it would be more than the maximum of 20, a development that would keep out several horses who want in.

Final works were recorded by Long Range Toddy here at Churchill Downs, and by Bodexpress and Maximum Security in Florida. Barring anything unforeseen, Bodexpress was going to wind up on the also-eligible list when entries were taken and posts drawn Tuesday.

This has been an unusual Derby in that all the horses in the top 20 after the final round of preps nearly three weeks ago are still in the race. Usually as the Derby draws closer, there’s at least some attrition. But this field has held together, and it’s not surprising when seeing the horses who already are here in person, as this is a group that is uniformly training well, not a one showing any obvious sign of regression.

A few were still to arrive, including Bodexpress, who was going to make the trip here even if stuck on the also-eligible list.

“Hopefully we get a spot,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., who assists his father, the trainer of Bodexpress.

Bodexpress worked five furlongs in 1:03.15 Monday morning at Gulfstream Park West. On Tuesday, he was to join a flight to Kentucky that also includes Maximum Security, Vekoma, Spinoff, and Cutting Humor.

As of Monday, Bodexpress ranked 21st on the basis of Derby qualifying points and other race criteria. Barring a defection before entries were to be taken for the Derby on Tuesday, this would result in him being excluded from the body of the field and listed as an also-eligible. He could then draw into the race, securing the outside post, if a scratch is made before Friday morning.

Delgado said if Bodexpress does not get in, the back-up is the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico.

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Horses like Alwaysmining and Anothertwistafate already are awaiting the Preakness. In addition to Bodexpress, Signalman could be headed straight there, too. Signalman ranks 22nd on the eligibility list, but his trainer, Kenny McPeek, said he had no interest in trying to draw in from the also-eligible list.

So unless there were two defections from horses ranked higher prior to the draw, Signalman would not be entered in the Derby, and would simply await the Preakness, McPeek said.

Those were some of the developments taking place off the track on Monday. On the track, Derby entrant Long Range Toddy recorded his final pre-Derby work, a half-mile that Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch timed in 48.12 seconds.

“I was surprised at the time he laid down considering how easy he seemed to be going,” said his trainer, Steve Asmussen.

The work was the second from Long Range Toddy since he ran sixth in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on April 13. He breezed five furlongs in 1:02.48 at Churchill April 22.

“He is a lot livelier this week than last week,” Asmussen said.

Long Range Toddy won a division of the Rebel in his race prior to the Arkansas Derby, rallying to catch Improbable. The Arkansas Derby marked his first start on an off track.

Also working Monday, but at the Palm Meadows training center, was Maximum Security, the undefeated winner of the Florida Derby. He was timed in 53.80 seconds for a half-mile after a near two-minute lick for a mile for trainer Jason Servis.

Servis clocked Maximum Security a mile in 1:58.96, and Palm Meadows clocker Bryan Walls had the last half-mile of that move in 53.80 seconds.

Servis said he was actually looking for Maximum Security to go a mile in 1:57, but he thought exercise rider Eddie Rivas was being conservative.

“If he gets beat a nose do I second-guess myself?” Servis said by phone. “Who knows? Maybe it’s a good thing. He said he had plenty of horse.”

Servis’s training method is unorthodox, but he said he believes in giving long, steady gallops as opposed to faster, more conventional-style workouts.

“In my opinion if I had breezed him, halves and five-eighths, would he have run the same? Probably, no matter who had him,” Servis said. “But I’m just maintaining him. I think he’s had plenty.

“I don’t think fitness will be an issue, I really don’t.”

◗ The local weather forecast for Louisville calls for thunderstorms Thursday and Friday with a 70 percent chance of showers on Saturday. Temperatures are expected in the low 70s.

– additional reporting by David Grening and Byron King