The Triple Crown trail doesn’t really start winding its way toward the Kentucky Derby until the calendar flips over to the New Year. Whichever horse wins the featured seventh race Wednesday at Fair Grounds will earn a map, a compass, and a chance to venture at least a little ways down that trail in a race like the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 19 at Fair Grounds.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The horses who will make up California’s Kentucky Derby crop next spring did not acquit themselves well in recent weeks. Both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita and the CashCall Futurity at Betfair Hollywood Park were won by horses who shipped in from the East Coast to beat the locals.

Churchill Downs on Thursday announced the 2013 dates for its Kentucky Derby Future Wager and Kentucky Oaks Future Wager weekends.

Three pools will be offered for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Feb. 8-10, which is 12 weeks before the $2 million Kentucky Derby on May 4; March 1-3, nine weeks out; and March 22-24, six weeks before the race. This will be the 15th straight year that Churchill has offered future betting on the Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Shanghai Bobby took his first baby step back toward his 3-year-old debut when he worked an easy half-mile in 52 seconds at the Palm Meadows training center Monday. Shanghai Bobby is scheduled to launch his 2013 campaign in the Grade 3 Holy Bull here Jan. 26.

“It was just an easy first breeze back,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I was debating whether to go three-eighths or a half-mile and decided to go an easy half. He did well for a starting point, will come back and breeze again next Monday, and then pick it up from there.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Since August, owner Adam Wachtel has been scouring charts, watching videos, and interpreting speed figures in an effort to find an under-the-radar 2-year-old he could attempt to buy and point to next year’s Kentucky Derby.

Wachtel hopes he landed on one in My Name Is Michael, a son of Macho Uno who ran a solid second in last Saturday’s Display Stakes at Woodbine.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he will practice in south Florida, Remsen Stakes winner Overanalyze will play in New York to begin his 3-year-old season.

Trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole both said Thursday that Overanalyze would most likely run in the Gotham and Wood Memorial at Aqueduct as his two prep races before the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

Though the New York Racing Association has yet to release its 2013 stakes schedule, the Gotham is expected to be run at 1 1/16 miles over Aqueduct’s inner track March 2 and the Wood at 1 1/8 miles over the main track April  6.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Yes, the Kentucky Derby is still more than five months away, but it’s not too early for trainer Todd Pletcher to begin thinking about it.

On the cover of his white binder that houses his various condition books is a list of all the prep races that lead to the May 4 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Given the depth of his crop, there may not be a race restricted to 3-year-olds run in the first part of 2013 in which Pletcher isn’t participating.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Of the four graded stakes offered at Aqueduct on Saturday, the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen for juveniles appears the most challenging from a handicapping standpoint.

Ten 2-year-olds – eight of whom have just a maiden win to their credit – will try to stretch out in distance and give their connections hope they have a Kentucky Derby horse in their barn. In fact, the Remsen is a qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby, offering points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the hair-splitting critiques of horses on the Kentucky Derby trail start coming to light next spring, surely one of the days being subjected to stringent evaluation will be Nov. 24.

ARCADIA, Calif. – After a wild journey down the Triple Crown trail in 2012, the connections of dual classic winner I’ll Have Another could be back for more in 2013 with He’s Had Enough.

In his first start on dirt in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, He’s Had Enough finished a rallying second, falling a head short at the wire to the undefeated Shanghai Bobby after encountering traffic around the turn.