LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ten years ago, trainer Rick Violette Jr. sent out his first starter in the Kentucky Derby, Read the Footnotes, who finished seventh. He’s back anew at Churchill Downs with Samraat, the once-beaten runner-up in the Wood Memorial, and is savoring the moment.

“Part of it seems like it has been more than 10 years, but other parts feel like it was yesterday,” Violette, 61, said Wednesday morning. “There’s that same electricity, the way it builds day by day.

“Being a little older, maybe I’m appreciating it a little more. I’m taking the time to enjoy it.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill is teaming with its sister company, Twinspires.com, to offer pick-six pool guarantees on Oaks and Derby Days. The Oaks pool is guaranteed at $250,000 and the Derby at $1 million.

The pick six carries a $2 minimum, with the sequence concluding with the marquee race each day.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wesley Ward isn’t wishing misfortune on anyone, but that’s the only way Pablo Del Monte – the lone also-eligible in Derby 140 – can actually make the race.

“We’d love to get in, but if we don’t, we’ll just keep training him and go in the Preakness” on May 17, Ward said.

Pablo Del Monte arrived here Wednesday, just before the 8 a.m. deadline mandated for all Derby runners to be on the Churchill grounds. He went out for an easy jog as training hours wound down just before 10 a.m., with Jeffrey Sanchez up. Sanchez will ride if the colt makes the race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A trend among stakes winners early at the Woodbine meet has been winter fitness, and that trend continued in the Whimsical Stakes on Saturday, as Purely Hot sprung the upset over top local female sprinters Youcan’tcatchme and Goldstryke Glory.

Purely Hot came into the Whimsical off a start in a $7,500 starter allowance at Keeneland on April 9, and having that race under her belt proved to be a key factor in the victory.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will host a Kentucky Derby handicapping seminar ahead of the first jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday. The seminar will take place at 11 a.m. Eastern on the second floor and will be hosted by Jim Mazur, president of Progressive Handicapping Inc. Those interested in attending are encouraged to arrive early for registration.

The first 125 people to register will receive copies of Mazur’s “The Derby Zone” and “Sire Ratings” books. A live stream of the seminar will be available on Woodbine’s website.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bettors who got 5-1 on Untapable in the only Kentucky Oaks Future Wager this year find themselves in a good position with the filly classic to be run Friday at Churchill Downs.

Untapable is 4-5 on the morning line for the 140th Oaks, and Churchill linemaker Mike Battaglia said he believes “she’ll probably even be a little lower.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Gary Contessa had Uncle Sigh stretch his legs over a muddy Churchill Downs track Wednesday, and the Withers and Gotham stakes runner-up went a half-mile for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby in a quicker-than-anticipated 52.70 seconds. Contessa said he was looking for more of a 54-second move but was elated with the way his colt moved over the surface.

“My God, his body language was great,” Contessa said. “That’s exactly what I was looking for body-language-wise, so I’m very thrilled. Let him open his lungs a little bit.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a two-week span early in 2012, Chris Mara won a Super Bowl and saw his daughter get nominated for an Academy Award. If ever there was a time to press one’s luck, that was it.

So, Mara, senior vice president of player personnel for the New York Giants – a team owned by the Mara family – told his wife, Kathleen, that he was going to “pull the trigger” on pursuing a lifelong dream of owning racehorses. Two years later, Mara hopes that dream includes a trip to the winner’s circle in the 140th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Chantal Sutherland-Kruse made a risky decision to leave Santa Anita and return to Woodbine just ahead of the 2014 meet, but so far, the decision has paid off for the Sovereign Award-winning jockey.

Sutherland-Kruse sits in a tie for fifth in the Woodbine jockeys’ standings with five wins from 24 starts through the first three weeks of the meet and picked up her first Woodbine stakes win since July 2012 when she guided Purely Hot to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $159,300 Whimsical Stakes last Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Winchell family has owned racehorses for more than 50 years and has been associated with Steve Asmussen for 25 years. Over the years, the Winchells used a number of trainers, running the gamut of backgrounds and personalities, including Ron McAnally and Michael Dickinson.