LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The final 10 days of training leading up to the 2002 Kentucky Derby was unorthodox to say the least. Three of the 20 starters, Johannesburg, Castle Gandolfo, and Perfect Drift, won't set foot on the Churchill Downs racetrack until being led over for the race. Buddha did all his major prep work in New York before shipping here Tuesday while Danthebluegrassman trained under the cloak of anonymity as a result of his surprise entry into the race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One is the best of the East, the other the best in the West.

As regional showdowns go, there seems no better race or place than the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs to determine who is the top 3-year-old filly in the land: Take Charge Lady, who has been superb in dominating the eastern half of the country this year, or You, who enters the 128th Oaks off back-to-back Grade 1 triumphs in California.

The connections of both fillies will walk into Churchill Friday full of confidence - and rightly so.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An expected field of 20 was entered in Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, but not the expected field of 20. In a last-minute decision that changed the make-up of the field, knocked out one runner who hours earlier seemed certain to be in, and left nerves frayed, trainer Bob Baffert decided to enter Danthebluegrassman, who had been dismissed as a Derby possibility by Baffert following his last-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This will not go down as the happiest week in the life of trainer Neil Douglas Drysdale. First he had his courtesy car re-claimed by Churchill Downs. Then he had his Kentucky Derby contender, Sunday Break, excluded from Saturday's race because of insufficient earnings in graded stakes races. And then Wednesday morning, Drysdale was forced to scratch his outstanding 3-year-old filly Bella Bellucci from Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

AUBURN, Wash. - Brass Halo will attempt to improve on his runner-up finish on opening day when he heads a field of a half-dozen 3-year-olds, all eligible to be claimed for $16,000, in Friday's 5 1/2-furlong feature at Emerald Downs.

CALGARY, Alberta - Sly Lady kept her undefeated record intact with a 4 1/2-length victory over Brass to Diamonds here on Sunday to assume the role of favorite for the May 12 Mount Royal Handicap.

The race was the first meeting between Alberta's two top juvenile fillies in 2001, and Round 1 went to Sly Lady, a daughter of Pole Position who has won all three of her career starts, for trainer Ron Grieves.

Any doubts about Sly Lady's readiness - she was shut down early last fall with a leg ailment - were erased with her win.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bill Mott doesn't know how winning the Kentucky Derby would compare to some other things he has accomplished in the sport. But he would like to find out.

Mott, 48, the youngest trainer to be inducted into racing's Hall of Fame, has not been a factor in the Triple Crown. He has run just three horses in the Kentucky Derby, one in the Preakness, and four in the Belmont. His best result was a second-place finish by Vision and Verse in the 1999 Belmont won by Lemon Drop Kid.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With all the serious preperations for Saturday's Kentucky Derby now complete, Wednesday was merely a maintenance day for Derby contenders, all of whom either jogged, galloped, or walked the shed row.

The primary source of interest Wednesday morning was the first local appearance of Buddha, who did not arrive on the grounds until the previous day. Catching a glimpse of Buddha on the racetrack meant putting in a very early wake up call as trainer Jim Bond sent him out in the first set shortly after the track opened for business at 5:45 a.m.

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.

You could call the Oaks and Derby days controlled chaos. There are so many people that it's just impossible for Churchill Downs to accommodate everybody.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Ken McPeek may already have won a major stakes on Saturday when he walks into the paddock to saddle Harlan's Holiday for the Derby.

A race earlier, McPeek starts Pisces, in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the richest turf race at Churchill Downs this year.