NEW ORLEANS – Mark Valeski did nothing in a Tuesday morning workout to suggest he isn’t a deserving favorite in Sunday’s $1 million Louisiana Derby, breezing a brisk five furlongs in 1:00.60 under race-rider Rosie Napravnik. The drill earned a bullet, though Tuesday was a light work day at Fair Grounds, with only 14 horses posting five-furlong breezes.

As a 2-year-old, Fort Loudon was the favorite son at Calder, the winner of all three legs of the open division of the Florida Stallion Stakes and a respectable seventh, despite breaking from the outside, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

On Saturday, Fort Loudon will be anything but the favorite, and in fact he’ll likely be the longest price in the field in the $1 million Florida Derby. But trainer Stanley Gold is willing to give the son of Awesome of Course one more chance at the big time.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has decided to take Discreet Dancer, who finished a tiring third behind Union Rags in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, off the Triple Crown trail. Pletcher originally intended to run Discreet Dancer on Sunday in the Louisiana Derby. Discreet Dancer is owned by Robsham Stables.

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.