On May 17, 1922, an 11-year-old gelding lined up against low-level claimers at New York’s Jamaica racecourse to compete for a thimble-sized purse. Perhaps he behaved badly; his manners, once kindly, had soured by this, his 80th career start. Did he even want to be there? Who knew?

Dance With Fate will run for the roses.

After being noncommittal regarding a start in the Kentucky Derby following Dance With Fate’s victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes over Keeneland’s Polytrack on April 12, the colt’s connections announced Friday that the horse will run in North America’s most famous race May 3 at Churchill Downs.

The decision was first announced by Britney Eurton, the daughter of trainer Peter Eurton, on TVG and later confirmed by the trainer.

Samraat and Uncle Sigh have remained on virtually the same schedule all winter and into the early spring. On Friday, however, they had vastly different agendas. Both put in workouts at Belmont Park two weeks ahead of the Kentucky Derby.

Gary Contessa, the trainer of Uncle Sigh, is making a couple of significant changes to his colt’s equipment after his fifth-place finish in the Wood Memorial, and on Friday he wanted to test them out.

STICKNEY, Ill. – The “Hawk” in Midnight Hawk refers to the Chicago Blackhawks, whose coach, Joel Quenneville, owns a piece of the colt, and many handicappers will view Midnight Hawk’s presence at Hawthorne in the Illinois Derby as something akin to the Blackhawks meeting a squad of 13-year-olds.

General a Rod, one of the main Kentucky Derby threats out of Florida this winter, had his first breeze since shipping to Kentucky when going five furlongs Thursday in 59.80 seconds at the Trackside training center.

“It was a nice work, nothing out of character for him,” said trainer Mike Maker. “He’ll probably have just one more work before the Derby. We’ll send him over to Churchill to work the Monday or Tuesday before the race.”

Trackside clocker Richard McCreery caught General a Rod, who went without company, with a six-furlong gallop-out of 1:14.40.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Shug McGaughey tried to get back to the Kentucky Derby, but injuries to Top Billing and Honor Code precluded the Hall of Fame trainer from following up on what he accomplished last year with Orb.

Even the final train to Louisville can’t get McGaughey there. In fact, the Keeneland station is being completely bypassed this year, as none of the 11 3-year-olds in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes will be going in the Derby after the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race is run for the 33rd time Saturday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The two weeks leading up to the 2009 Kentucky Derby were torture for trainer Jimmy Jerkens.

His 3-year-old Quality Road – the winner of the Florida Derby and Fountain of Youth Stakes – went from potential Derby favorite to out of the race due to a quarter crack on a front foot that needed time to heal.

An expert in statistical theory and application would suggest that if something has not happened in 51 years, it is unlikely to happen in the 52nd. Such an expert also would recommend against playing cards with a guy named Ace or betting on the Vikings in the Super Bowl. Any Super Bowl.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Allen Jerkens doesn’t have a Kentucky Derby horse, but he does have a big rooting interest in the race: Wicked Strong, who is trained by Allen’s son Jimmy and rallied to beat Samraat and Social Inclusion in the Wood Memorial.

The Wood represented a big turnaround in form for Wicked Strong, who finished ninth in the Grade 2 Holy Bull and fourth in an optional-claiming race here in his two previous starts. Wicked Strong came from sixth place to win the Wood by 3 1/2 lengths over Samraat.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wednesday was a good morning for Social Inclusion, who worked a sharp three furlongs here in 35.04 seconds over a muddy track. Social Inclusion also moved a step closer to earning a place in the Kentucky Derby field when it was announced that Florida Derby winner Constitution had been taken out of consideration for the race due to injury.