Not since 1882, when Apollo did it, has a horse won the Kentucky Derby without racing as a 2-year-old. It is a streak that Midnight Interlude will try to end Saturday.

Many have tried and failed in that quest, including Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year. It is an admittedly daunting task to go from an unstarted maiden to a Derby winner in four months. But Bob Baffert, the trainer of Midnight Interlude, is holding out hope that in a year without a standout horse, Midnight Interlude is just as good as any.

Though Wood Memorial winner Toby’s Corner returned to his barn at the Fair Hill training center from the New Bolton Center on Tuesday night, trainer Graham Motion said Wednesday morning there is still no definitive diagnosis on what caused the horse to go lame in his left rear leg.

When he watches the replay of last year’s Kentucky Derby, trainer Nick Zito still cringes somewhat when he sees jockey Jose Lezcano getting shut off repeatedly in the stretch aboard Ice Box, who finished second behind Super Saver.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wednesday was the coldest morning yet during the final two weeks leading up to the 137th Kentucky Derby, but at least it was dry, with the rains finally abating in the Louisville area. The racetrack still had some lingering moisture in it from two days of heavy downpours and was officially rated as good throughout the four-hour training session.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Kent Desormeaux said that when he crossed under the wire to win the Kentucky Derby aboard Real Quiet in 1998 “my life flashed before my eyes.”

Jon Court hasn’t even ridden in his first Kentucky Derby, and his life is already flashing before his eyes. Court, 50, has spent a whole lot of time reviewing his life and 30-year career as a jockey as he has prepared to make his Derby debut Saturday at Churchill Downs aboard Archarcharch for his father-in-law, trainer William “Jinks” Fires.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A total of 22 horses were entered Wednesday morning in Saturday's 137th Kentucky Derby, according to the Churchill Downs communications department.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Because a maximum of 20 horses are allowed to run in the Derby, two were excluded, based on graded stakes earnings. They are Sway Away and Ruler On Ice.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There has been no more compelling story at this year’s Kentucky Derby than that of Mucho Macho Man, whose trainer Kathy Ritvo is a heart-transplant survivor and whose former rider, Eibar Coa, has made a remarkable recovery since being left temporarily paralyzed from a riding mishap at Gulfstream Park.

Trainers who win the Kentucky Derby usually do so because they make the race their single-minded focus. With every promising young colt in their barns, they think, long-range, about the first Saturday in May.

That’s why Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, and Nick Zito saddle contenders at Churchill Downs almost every year and will be prominent again Saturday. And that’s why Graham Motion will probably never be a dominant Derby trainer.

Jimmy Shircliff and Harvey Diamond were inspired one day when staring at a particularly historic part of the Churchill Downs architecture when they came up with a name for a horse they owned. A gray colt by Harlan’s Holiday became Twinspired.