Each day through the Kentucky Derby, trainer Ken McPeek will share his thoughts with Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form in his Derby Diary. McPeek, 39, is the trainer of Harlan's Holiday, the race favorite.

We got post 14 for the Derby, which thrills me, because Edgar Prado is thrilled. All we wanted was to let Edgar pick the post, because he's the one who has to deal with it. If we had first pick, we were going to take 8 because Jack Wolf's 4-year-old daughter likes pink, and that's what the 8 saddlecloth is. It's all in fun.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The nine first-time participants among the jockeys and trainers in Saturday's Kentucky Derby hail from remarkably diverse backgrounds.

Jeff Mullins, the trainer of longshot Lusty Latin, grew up in South Jordan, Utah, and seldom dreamed of the Kentucky Derby in faraway Louisville. The non-parimutuel Quarter Horse races at Laurel Brown Track was more his speed.

Aidan O'Brien, who starts 2-year-old champion Johannesburg and the group stakes winner Castle Gandolfo, is from Ireland, and the son of a trainer.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Her name says it all as she heads into the $35,000 Sun City Handicap at Turf Paradise.

Lookn Mighty Fine returns to the site of some of her best work, including a win in this same race last year, off a strong Southern California campaign as the 122-pound highweight in the one-mile grass feature.

There's no lack of opposition, however. Nine others are lined up to take a shot at Lookn Mighty Fine.

But if her 3-for-4 record on this course wasn't enough to make her favored, certainly her past year's activity in Southern California does the job.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - No matter the outcome of the $55,000-added Woodside Handicap at Bay Meadows, trainer Chuck Peery will have a reason to smile.

That's because Slewsbox is set to make her return in the six-furlong race. Slewsbox has won five straight races and 8 of her 12 career starts.

A 5-year-old mare, Slewsbox ran only three times last year, winning three stakes. All five victories in her current win streak have come in stakes, and she fell a neck shy of six straight stakes wins when she broke slowly.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Beau's Town, whose lone career defeat came in his debut last fall, goes for his sixth consecutive win in the $75,000 Ford Express Stakes, scheduled to be run Saturday at Lone Star Park.

The 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up has also drawn the sharp Boots on Sunday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer John Ross holds a strong hand at Woodbine Saturday, when he sends out the uncoupled duo of Wild Whiskey and Shaws Creek in the $168,150 Queenston Stakes.

Streakin Rob, the winter-book favorite for the Queen's Plate, will make his 2002 debut in the seven-furlong dash for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, which is a prep for the June 23 Plate.

CHICAGO - Summer Note almost fell into the dustbin of racing history, but after more than two years on the sidelines, Summer Note is no more than a couple weeks away from a race.

Now 5, Summer Note won a pair of 2-year-old races in Chicago for trainer Richard Hazelton, then went to Florida and dead-heated with More Than Ready in the 2000 Hutcheson Stakes for trainer Randy Morse. If you've lost track of his career since then, don't be alarmed: Summer Note hasn't raced again yet.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Although California's richest race for 3-year-old fillies remains two months away, it is not too soon to start thinking about the inaugural $500,000 American Oaks on July 6 at Hollywood Park.

The Oaks is an invitational at 1 1/4 miles on turf, and Martin Panza, Hollywood Park's racing secretary, will issue invitations only to fillies who have won or placed in a graded stakes.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - On Saturday, the national spotlight will be on the 3-year-olds in the Kentucky Derby. At Aqueduct, another group of 3-year-olds will attract local attention in the $150,000 Withers.

The Withers is the ninth race on a 10-race card at Aqueduct on Kentucky Derby Day.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Mike Smith may be longshots with Proud Citizen in the Kentucky Derby, but they will be the favorites to win the $150,000, seven-furlong Churchill Downs Handicap with Snow Ridge on Saturday's Kentucky Derby undercard.