LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Talk about attrition. Since Churchill Downs offered its earliest-ever Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool in late November, only two horses have been listed in all four pools toward the 2014 Derby – Cairo Prince and Strong Mandate.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Leah Gyarmati remains on the fence about running Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon in the Wood Memorial.

On Sunday, Noble Moon worked a mile in 1:46.05 in company with Gyarmati’s Grade 1-winning filly Sweet Reason.

While Sweet Reason, who won an allowance race in her 3-year-old debut on March 7, is a definite for the Grade 2, $300,000 Gazelle on April 5, Gyarmati said, “I am not committing” Noble Moon to the Wood at this point.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – General a Rod turned down the backstretch shortly after the renovation break Sunday, making his way to the five-furlong marker to begin his final major prep for Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. But as he reached the pole, the Fountain of Youth Stakes runner-up suddenly found himself with some unexpected company, as he was joined by a member of the Gamaliel Vazquez stable.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The eye-catching 6 1/4-length allowance victory by the New York-bred Effinex at Aqueduct on Sunday was special to Russell Cohen, the colt’s breeder, on several levels.

First, as a veterinarian for 27 years and a breeder for nearly as long, Cohen takes great pride in running horses in his stable without medication. Effinex, who is owned by the Tri-Bone Stables of Cohen’s mother, Bernice, does not run on Lasix, and Cohen said that except for one shot of Adequan, a medication that helps maintain cartilage, the horse has never been treated with anything.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – Susan Chu first became interested in horses through riding, which she still does, as does her 11-year-old son, Jerry. But a trip to the 2010 Kentucky Derby helped pique her interest in Thoroughbred racing, and she got the support of her husband, Charles, to get involved as more than a spectator.

Chu now has just a handful of runners, but what success she’s had. Last year, she had one of the most promising and precocious 3-year-olds in Super Ninety Nine, who won the Southwest Stakes and then was third in the Santa Anita Derby before he went to the sidelines.

Grade 3, $800,110 Sunland Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Sunland Park, March 23
(50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)

Whereas Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won his fourth Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park earlier this month, his record in the rich Sunland Derby is not too shabby either.

Having won this Derby prep race in 2006 with Wanna Runner and last year with Govenor Charlie, Baffert sent two horses to Sunland this year - Chitu and Midnight Hawk.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. – Chitu looks like a Quarter Horse, what with his big, blocky behind. And he’s bred like a sprinter, being by Henny Hughes. But when it comes to going two turns, what he shows on the outside is not reflected by what’s on the inside, for this is a horse whose determination has carried him quite far.

How far? Perhaps as far as the May 3 Kentucky Derby, for on Sunday at Sunland Park, Chitu  earned 50 points – oh, and a $400,000 winner’s share – by holding off stablemate Midnight Hawk to take the Grade 3, $800,110 Sunland Derby before a track-record crowd 18,642.

Grade 3, $518,950 Spiral Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Turfway Park, Polytrack, March 22

(50 Derby qualifying points to the winner, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth.)

After a hard-fought 1 1/8 miles, barely six inches separated the first three finishers in this Kentucky Derby prep race on Turfway Park’s synthetic Polytrack racing surface.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Tire is on the verge of the major leap from a maiden race win in early March to a Grade 1 stakes in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.

Trainer Mark Glatt said Sunday that Big Tire is deserving of a start in California’s top race for 3-year-olds after a breakthrough win in a one-mile maiden race on March 7, his sixth start.

The jump in class is worth a try, especially considering the distance, Glatt said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -  Honor Code is off the Kentucky Derby trail and will be sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a slight tear in his right hind upper suspensory, trainer Shug McGaughey said  Sunday.