LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Classic Empire was a slight favorite after the first of three days of betting into Pool 4 of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, but the results of two major prep races Saturday will go a long way in determining the final odds when the pool closes Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.

As of Saturday morning, with $58,934 in the win pool, Classic Empire was the 9-2 choice, followed by Gunnevera (6-1), McCraken (7-1), and Tapwrit (8-1). Another $22,337 had been bet in exactas. Pool 4 opened Friday at noon Eastern.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Sonneteer, the Southern California-based maiden who crashed the Rebel Stakes exacta when he finished second in the Grade 2, $900,000 race at 112-1, is coming back to Oaklawn.

“All is on schedule to return for the Arkansas Derby,” trainer Keith Desormeaux said Friday.

Desormeaux said after the Rebel that he had a few options to discuss with Calumet Farm concerning Sonneteer, ranging from training up to the Kentucky Derby to targeting an additional prep in the Santa Anita Derby, the Blue Grass at Keeneland, or the Arkansas Derby.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Iliad finished a lot better in a team workout Friday than he finished his most recent race, a distant second in the San Felipe Stakes that suggested he could be vulnerable when he starts favored in the Santa Anita Derby on April 8.

But skeptical analysis of Iliad may require revision after a sharp seven-furlong workout Friday at Santa Anita. Trainer Doug O’Neill worked Iliad in company after the 9 a.m. renovation break.

Keeneland racing officials expect a field of at least seven 3-year-olds for the Blue Grass Stakes, the annual spring showcase that will anchor an action-packed opening weekend at the Lexington, Ky., track.

The biggest name is McCraken, who is scheduled to breeze again Sunday or Monday at Keeneland in his last serious preparation for the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass on Saturday. The Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred already has breezed twice over the track since trainer Ian Wilkes sent him north from his winter base in south Florida.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Antonio Sano is a very confident man when it comes to his highly regarded Kentucky Derby candidate, Gunnevera. So, too, is Gunnevera’s rider, Javier Castellano.

“Javier told me that if we win the Florida Derby, we’ll win the Kentucky Derby,” Sano said this week.

El Areeb, a 3-year-old with two Grade 3 stakes wins this year, came out of his Wednesday workout at Laurel Park with an injury to his right knee and is off the Kentucky Derby trail, trainer Cal Lynch said Thursday.

El Areeb, who was pointing to the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 8, will undergo surgery at New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania and will be out of action approximately six months, Lynch said. Lynch said the surgery will be performed by veterinarian Dean Richardson, who is currently attending a conference in Hong Kong.

NEW ORLEANS – Girvin’s path to last month’s Risen Star Stakes here at Fair Grounds was not ideal, yet he won anyway. He has had a perfect schedule since then, and that makes the lightly raced but improving colt strictly the horse to beat on Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby.

We have two big-event days Saturday at Gulfstream Park and Fair Grounds, with $1 million Kentucky Derby preps anchoring both stakes-packed cards. The Grade 1 Florida Derby is the feature at Gulfstream, where eight other stakes, five of them graded, also will be run. The Grade 2 Louisiana Derby is the headliner at Fair Grounds, where seven other stakes will be decided, three of them graded.

Florida Derby

Brian Hernandez Jr. launched his career as a professional jockey in 2003, and last year, finishing 12th aboard Tom’s Ready, he got his first mount in the Kentucky Derby. For 14 years, Hernandez would have jumped at the chance to ride any horse in the Derby, but this year, he is on the verge of having to choose between two of North America’s leading 3-year-olds.

NEW ORLEANS – Steve Asmussen could be excused for being sleepy or wondering where he was on Wednesday morning here at Fair Grounds, and not for the usual reason for people who visit this city and overindulge.