LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Saturday was a feel-good kind of morning for Kentucky Derby hopefuls, the crisp, cool temperatures having most of the prospective starters on their toes before, after, and especially during their gallops.

A number of horses made positive impressions during training hours Saturday, including likely favorite Harlan's Holiday, who had a busy morning. With exercise rider Helen Pitts aboard, Harlan's Holiday jogged once around, going clockwise first, then reversing directions at the seven-eighths pole, then galloping a brisk mile and three-eighths.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ken McPeek, who trains Harlan's Holiday, has bravely soldiered on in the stable area this past week despite a broken left foot, but not without a struggle. McPeek has to hop up stairs on the clockers' stand to watch his horses work, and ducking in and out of stalls is a chore.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With so many terrific races to be run here later in the week, it only makes sense that some of the less-accomplished horses on the grounds would help fill out the Tuesday card at Churchill Downs.

And while it is true that eight of the 10 races are for claiming horses, the eighth and ninth races are solid allowance races. In fact, the ninth-race feature, a $45,500 allowance sprint for 3-year-olds, attracted Storm Commander, winner of the Hansel Stakes, and shapes up as an appropriate tease for what lies ahead.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - The meeting at Tampa Bay Downs swings into its final week and while it seems like only yesterday that the horses were parading to the post for the first race on opening day in truth it has been a winter to remember for some and a time others would just as soon forget.

In the "strong and steady" department, silver-haired trainer Don Rice heads the list.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After losing her first 11 starts in the U.S., Eurolink Raindance suddenly has put together back-to-back victories. Friday night at Hollywood Park, the 5-year-old Eurolink Raindance rallied from the back of a five-runner field to score an upset victory in the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap for fillies and mares.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Mick Kinane lost an appeal on Friday in London of a riding suspension and will not be able to ride Johannesburg in next Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Kinane, the European riding sensation, rode Johannesburg to victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

As a result, either Jerry Bailey or possibly Gary Stevens will ride Johannesburg in the 128th Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Stephen Margolis, a longtime assistant trainer, knew he would eventually go out on his own when the time was right. Circumstances dictated that the right time was November 2000.

And now, just 18 months into his training career, Margolis is already in the Kentucky Derby with a live longshot in Request for Parole, who has three wins, three seconds, and a third from eight stakes appearances.

"A lot of guys wait their whole lives to even run in the Derby,'' Margolis said. "I feel fortunate.''

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Since finishing eighth in the Kings Point two years ago, Gander was recognized as New York's Horse of the Year in 2000, picked up checks in several Grade 1 races, and won his first graded race, the Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup, last fall.

On Sunday at Aqueduct, a more accomplished Gander gives the Kings Point Handicap another whirl in his first start in a statebred race since winning the Evan Shipman in July 2000.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainers Steve Specht and Gil Matos are each hoping for better pace scenarios for their horses Sunday when they run in the $55,000-added San Carlos Handicap at Bay Meadows.

Specht wants to see his speedy I'madrifter run freer earlier in the one-mile race than he did in the Grade 2 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gate Fields on March 30. And Matos wants to see his closer Takin It Deep run a little slower early than he did in the same race.

CICERO, Ill. - It's become common knowledge: Speed is a good thing at Sportsman's Park. But in the Sixty Sails Handicap, there might be too much of a good thing.