CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Rainy  
Track: Good  
Temp.: 65

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some major rainstorms passed through the area early Saturday morning and continued intermittently during training hours, but nothing could deter J Boys Echo from getting in his final Kentucky Derby work over a racetrack upgraded from muddy to “good” after the renovation break and which yielded some quick workout times after being tightened up by the precipitation.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thunder Snow is officially in, Battalion Runner and Malagacy are officially out, Lookin At Lee and Sonneteer are now in the field, Girvin took a big step toward making the race, J Boys Echo worked at Churchill Downs, and both Gormley and Royal Mo worked at Santa Anita, all part of a busy Saturday on many fronts seven days out from the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Louisiana Derby winner Girvin, who missed a work last weekend while recovering from a quarter crack in his right front hoof, breezed five furlongs in company in 59.60 seconds Saturday at Keeneland in his final work before the Kentucky Derby.

Man o’ War was denied a chance at winning the Triple Crown by his owner’s reluctance to send a young 3-year-old to the Kentucky Derby. Seventeen years later, the same owner, Samuel Riddle, had no such reservations, shipping Man o’ War’s son War Admiral to Churchill Downs.

The record crowd “of inestimable size” at the 63rd Derby saw owner and trainer Mary Hirsch become the first woman to saddle a Derby starter in No Sir, but at the end of 1 1/4 miles in 2:03 1/5, the only story was War Admiral’s dominance.

In May 1983, the flashy chestnut Fighting Fit gave Jerry Moss his first big hit in the racing business, winning the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Hollywood Park. Two months later, “Every Breath You Take” by The Police reached No. 1 on the pop music top 20 for the A&M record company founded by Moss and Herb Alpert and stayed there through the rest of the summer.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After raising some eyebrows for the wrong reasons during training hours at Churchill Downs the previous two mornings, Always Dreaming did so again for all the right ones on Friday, when topping a group of eight prospective Kentucky Derby starters to work on a calm but crisp morning under the twin spires.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The anticipation of April showers on Saturday and the desire to wear May flowers resulted in a flurry of workouts at Churchill Downs on Friday in preparation for next Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, with eight prospects drilling here, and two others elsewhere, totaling half the 20-horse field that will run for the roses.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The relatively untested Battle of Midway disputed the pace in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8 before relinquishing the lead in the final furlong.

Battle of Midway finished second by a half-length to Gormley and earned sufficient qualifying points to secure a berth in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next Saturday. If Battle of Midway is a factor in the famous race, he will do so with a different running style.

On the first Saturday in May, the marching band will play “My Old Kentucky Home,” and the field will file onto the Churchill Downs main track past the rose-trimmed winner’s circle that is used only one weekend a year. As many as three horses will run in the name of Calumet Farm, which has won a record eight editions of the Kentucky Derby.

But while a winner would add to that history, he would be the first of the group to carry the colors of current Calumet owner Brad Kelley, a deeply private man who assumed control of the historic property five years ago.

For a Kentucky Derby starter, Irap has had a fluctuating status in the last five months.

Last December, Irap was a game second to the highly regarded Mastery in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, triggering Triple Crown hopes for owners Paul and Zillah Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill.

“I thought he had that kind of ability,” O’Neill said this week.

Within a few months, those hopes were fading, dimmed by a second in the Mine That Bird Derby and a fourth in the Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico in March.