LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs officials said Tuesday they intend to move back the customary closing time of the third and final pool of the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager to accommodate the running of the Louisiana Derby.

With their lucrative victories over the weekend, both Went the Day Well, who won the Spiral Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park, and Daddy Nose Best, who captured the Sunland Derby on Sunday, gleaned enough graded stakes earnings to practically assure themselves starting spots in the May 5 Kentucky Derby.

But whether either runs again before the Derby is not certain just yet.

NEW ORLEANS -- The starting gate for the Louisiana Derby on Sunday at Fair Grounds will be crammed full of 3-year-olds. Fourteen of them were entered during Monday’s post-position draw, and if all start the field will be the race’s largest since 1962. But it seems fair to wonder whether there is much strength in those numbers.

After finishing a half-length behind Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint winner Secret Circle in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 7, Longview Drive emerged as a viable Kentucky Derby sleeper.

After disappointing as the favorite in the first, and slower, division of the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn on Feb. 20, Longview Drive became a forgotten commodity.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fields for the seven stakes races on Saturday’s Florida Derby day program at Gulfstream Park are all but set, including the main event, which features a confrontation between division leader Union Rags and leading Kentucky Derby contender El Padrino.

Saturday’s card did lose some of its luster with the announcement Sunday that the undefeated, Eclipse Award winner Awesome Feather would not run in the Grade 3 Rampart as scheduled. The Rampart was to feature the much anticipated duel between Awesome Feather and Grade 1 winner Awesome Maria.

Flashy Dresser, the runaway winner of the Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park last Saturday, along with Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Golden Ticket, Sunland Derby runner-up Isn’t He Clever, and Swale Stakes winner Trinniberg, on Monday were announced among the 20 late nominations to the Triple Crown, which brings the total number of Triple Crown nominations this year to 418.

The 20 late nominees are the most at that stage since 1993, when 25 were late nominees.

Daddy Nose Best put himself in the Kentucky Derby picture on Sunday, when he wore down Isn’t He Clever for a three-quarter length win in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.

“We came here trying to earn our way into the Kentucky Derby,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Daddy Nose Best for Bob and Cathy Zollars.

The Sunland Derby was the centerpiece of a seven-stakes card at Sunland. The races were worth a combined $1.6 million, making the program the richest of the meet in New Mexico.

Handsome Mike, fourth in Saturday’s Grade 3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, is scheduled to make his next start in the $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 14, a last chance to gain a spot in the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

Handsome Mike was en route to Arkansas on Sunday, trainer Doug O’Neill said between races at Santa Anita.

“He’s headed to the Arkansas Derby as long as he’s training good,” O’Neill said.

A colt by Scat Daddy owned by Paul Reddam, Handsome Mike was beaten 6

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -   El Padrino’s final work for Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby may not have gone quite as planned at the beginning. But in the end, trainer Todd Pletcher got just what he was looking for from the Risen Star winner, who figures to be the second choice behind Union Rags in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. 

ARCADIA, Calif. - Empire Way, runner-up in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes in February, but ninth in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 10, is off the Kentucky Derby trail, trainer Mike Harrington said on Sunday.

Empire Way is likely to make a start in an allowance race later this spring, Harrington said.

“I backed off him a little while,” he said. “He needed a little time.

He’s definitely off the Derby trail.

“When he comes back, I’ll run him in an allowance race. I still think he’s a good horse. He’s still training.”