As has been noted in this space, the last four major Grade 1, $1 million Kentucky Derby preps – the Arkansas Derby, the Wood Memorial, the Blue Grass, and the Santa Anita Derby – were all fast early/slow late races.

To put it another way, these four Derby preps fell apart late after fast early paces. And the running styles that mostly filled out the top three spots in these races were pretty much what you would expect in such races. Take a look:

Arkansas Derby – The first three finishers were deep closers.

Keeneland
Weather: Cloudy
Track: Fast
Temp: 58

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With the skies clear and the track fast, Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist went back to work Saturday at Keeneland, turning in a fairly easy five-furlong breeze that had been postponed from the previous morning due to rain.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Kentucky Derby hopefuls Exaggerator and Danzing Candy worked in Southern California on Saturday, two weeks after finishing first and fourth in the $1,000,690 Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

Exaggerator worked five furlongs in 1:00 at Santa Anita, while Danzing Candy worked six furlongs in 1:12 at the San Luis Rey Downs Training Center in San Diego County.

Unbeaten champion Nyquist got a little help from his friends in his penultimate work for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday morning at Keeneland.

Nyquist and regular exercise rider Jonny Garcia went in company with Grade 1-winning stablemate Ralis and Flavien Prat for a "maintenance" five furlongs in 1:01.78 on Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch's watch. The latter colt is pointing to the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wood Memorial winner Outwork went to school Friday morning at Belmont Park, and by all accounts, he was a model student.

Working behind two horses, Outwork breezed four furlongs in 48.61 seconds over the training track in preparation for the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

In his first four races, Outwork was either on the lead or pressing the pace outside in the clear. That included the Wood Memorial, where he pressed Matt King Coal from the outside and then held off Trojan Nation to win by a head.

KeenelandWeather: CloudyTemperature: 58Training Track: Fast

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The first of Daily Racing Form’s workout reports leading up to the 2016 Kentucky Derby was supposed to start with a real bang, with likely favorite Nyquist scheduled to put in his penultimate work for the race Friday at Keeneland. But Mother Nature stepped in to alter those plans, with overnight rain leading trainer Doug O’Neill to postpone the work until Saturday.

Mor Spirit, the two-time stakes winner who was second in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9, was flown to Churchill Downs on Friday for the Kentucky Derby on May 7, a day after a five-furlong breeze at Santa Anita.

Mor Spirit was timed in 1:01.60 in his first workout since finishing behind Exaggerator in the Santa Anita Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert considered waiting until Mor Spirit was based at Churchill Downs before resuming workouts but said he changed his mind.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While his connections wait to see if there will be the necessary defections to make it into the Kentucky Derby field, Adventist worked a half-mile in 48.81 seconds Thursday over the Belmont Park training track.

Adventist, equipped with blinkers and working by himself, went his first quarter in 25.17 seconds and his second in 23.64. Trainer Leah Gyarmati, via two-way radio, instructed exercise rider Eduardo Azocar to let Adventist finish, and Azocar got after the colt a little bit.

With all the preps for the Kentucky Derby complete, I sat down with the past performances of the Derby’s probable starters on Thursday to try to get a feel for the major pace players and how the race might unfold. What follows are some of my conclusions.

◗ There appears to be only two true speedballs in the expected field – San Felipe Stakes winner Danzing Candy and Wood Memorial winner Outwork. Outwork has only won on the lead, and Danzing Candy has done his best running either on the lead or pushing the early leader.

Use him for a windbreak, a coat rack, a barn doorstop. It doesn’t matter to California Chrome as long as you set him free in his paddock for most of the day and have a bag of Mrs. Pastures horse cookies handy on demand.

In fact, the 2014 Horse of the Year and freshly minted Dubai World Cup winner has become one of the main attractions of the suddenly booming Kentucky horse-farm-tour business, which means Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville is a hot spot on the itinerary of any tour bus worth its biofuel.