You can hear the excitement in trainer Todd Pletcher’s voice just talking about Verrazano, his undefeated and still untested Kentucky Derby prospect, who’ll take center stage when making his stakes debut Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby.

[DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with odds and video]

A quick look at Flashback makes it easy to understand why he is on virtually everyone’s short list of leading Kentucky Derby contenders. He has the pedigree, being by Tapit out of a Mr. Greeley mare; the looks, with his gray coat rippling with dapples; and a three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer in Bob Baffert.

Plus, the colt is 2 for 2, having won a maiden race going away and then the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes by 6 1/4 lengths.

The man named Small sure has lived a big life in racing and beyond.

Richard “Dickie” Small, a lifelong horseman who was a Green Beret in his younger days, has been stricken in the last couple of years by an aggressive form of cancer. But that hasn’t stopped the 67-year-old from making his presence felt on his home Maryland circuit.

Small will be represented Saturday by Dynamic Strike, one of the top contenders in the $150,000 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Eddie Kenneally reported that he has sent two of his promising 3-year-old prospects, Majestic Hussar and Bradester, to the farm. Majestic Hussar set the pace before finishing a tiring fourth stretching out around two turns for the first time in the Fountain of Youth. He had defeated Palace Malice in his previous start.

[DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with odds and video]

After breezing five furlongs in 1:02 here Monday, Proud Strike will get another chance to prove he belongs on the Triple Crown trail, trainer Steve Asmussen said. Proud Strike was the surprise early leader in the Feb. 23 Risen Star before fading to eighth, beaten less than four lengths by Ive Struck a Nerve.

“I thought he breezed back real well,” Asmussen said. “We’re nominating to the Rebel,” to be run March 16 at Oaklawn Park, “and if we don’t make that, we’ll probably just wait for the Louisiana Derby.”

A minority ownership interest has been sold in Ive Struck a Nerve by Matt Bryant, the principal in Big Chief Racing, with Paul Braverman as his new partner. Braverman, 62, is a Boston investment manager who has owned horses in various partnerships for years and was one of the minority owners in Soldat, winner of the 2011 Fountain of Youth Stakes.

He saw his first Kentucky Derby in 1972 when Riva Ridge won and remembers the grandstand shaking in 1973 as Secretariat thundered home. Mark Casse was just 12 then, watching the race alongside his father, Norman, but already the racing bug had hit and fever had taken hold.

“I was obsessed,” he said.

There was no question what he would do.

WHO’S HOT

Vyjack, who remained undefeated with his victory last Saturday in the Gotham, saw his odds plummet on the Kentucky Derby future line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper. He is now the co-fifth choice at 12-1 after being 40-1 a week ago. There were no new names added to the Derby Watch top 20 this week.

WHO’S NOT

ARCADIA, Calif. – In his first start around two turns, Hear the Ghost may be a late threat to 3-year-old stars Flashback and Goldencents in Saturday’s $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.

Hear the Ghost has started twice at six furlongs, winning his debut in a 16-1 upset against maidens at Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 15 and running a game second in the San Pedro Stakes here Jan. 21.