When he went to Churchill Downs last year, trainer Doug O’Neill said, “I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to be part of the Kentucky Derby.” But after he saddled I’ll Have Another to win America’s most famous race, he could scarcely have imagined what the success would be like.

It’s a pretty exclusive club – just 20 living members – and many of them weren’t exactly household names when they showed up in Louisville. But when they left town, they were known far and wide in the world of sports as trainers who somehow got the job done in the game’s most unforgiving crucible. They had won the Kentucky Derby.

Just to keep things in perspective, one week after putting up $1.5 million in a race they called the Classic, the biggest purse at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races this Saturday afternoon is offering $27,000 for allowance horses bred in West Virginia. So much for trickle down economics.

It was with a heavy heart that Chris McCarron, a Dorchester, Mass., native, breathed a sigh of relief that no one in his hometown circle of family and friends was physically damaged in the blasts last Monday that rocked the fabled Boston Marathon.

“The young boy, Martin Richard, who was killed was from Dorchester though,” McCarron said. “It’s amazing what kind of ripple a tragedy like that can have. At least in the long run it serves to join people together.”

Pity the poor Illinois Derby, suddenly racing’s unwanted stepchild, all dressed up in its $750,000 finery on Saturday afternoon with no place to go. Except maybe Pimlico.

Craig Lewis does not take a horse out of town very often. But when he does, he prefers to travel heavy.

At the cold, wet Breeders’ Cup of 1988 at Churchill Downs, Lewis swung for the stars with Cutlass Reality, a 6-year-old grandson of Damascus and In Reality who knocked off both Aysheba and Ferdinand in the Hollywood Gold Cup that summer. He was supplemented to the $3 million Classic for $360,000 but ran like a horse who hated the muddy ground, finishing seventh to Alysheba after showing his usual speed.

We’re past the major prep races on the road to the Kentucky Derby and the field is coming into focus.

With that news, John Avello at the Wynn Las Vegas went ahead and posted odds on individual 3-year-olds to win the Triple Crown. For the past month, bettors have been able to bet the generic “Will any horse win the 2013 Triple Crown?” with a price of +650 (odds of 6.5-1 or winning $6.50 for every $1 wagered) on the “yes” and a price of -850 (risk $8.50 for every $1 you want to profit) on the “no” for the naysayers.

Eddie Arcaro had a problem. On April 9, 1942, in the Phoenix Handicap at Keeneland, he rode the 3-year-old Devil Diver and beat the reigning Horse of the Year Whirlaway going six furlongs in the mud. Two weeks later, also at Keeneland, Devil Diver was scratched out of the Blue Grass Stakes with a minor leg cut, which meant Arcaro switched over to stablemate Shut Out and won the race anyway, with relative ease.

If you’ve been holding your breath waiting for anything about playing the horses in New York to change for the better, it’s time to exhale before you turn any bluer. The lesson from Thursday’s fourth meeting of the new New York Racing Association Reorganization Board was that things are moving even more slowly than anyone expected, and matters of genuine concern to actual customers seem to be falling further and further down the agenda.

We’ll find out soon enough if there is a statute of limitations on heightened media scrutiny, or if Doug O’Neill will get credit for time served last year when he stage dives back into the Triple Crown mosh pit next month with Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents.