HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jonathan Sheppard has been non-committal about Ever So Lucky’s status as a Kentucky Derby candidate. But if he does get to the Derby, Ever So Lucky will get there via a somewhat unconventional route after making his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s seven-furlong Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

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OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Alpha, winner of the Grade 3 Withers as well as the Count Fleet Stakes here this winter, will "most likely" skip next month's Gotham Stakes and make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial here on April 7, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Wednesday.

Alpha was scheduled to leave New York by van on Thursday morning and arrive at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida on Friday to continue training.

Union Rags is the slight favorite over Algorithms in the first edition of Daily Racing Form ’s Derby Watch for 2012, and, among individual entrants in Pool 1 of this weekend’s Kentucky Derby Future Wager, Algorithms is slightly favored over Union Rags. Box that exacta, and you’ve tied up the two horses currently viewed as the leading contenders for this year’s Derby, on May 5 at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As legendary as he has become, Barbaro was something of an outsider at 19-1 in Pool 1 of the 2006 Kentucky Derby Future Wager before going on to win.

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Michael Matz, who trained Barbaro and trains arguably the top separately listed entry in the 2012 Derby Future Wager in Union Rags, said he remembers nothing about the future wager that year.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Discreet Dancer, whose status for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth may be in jeopardy after he spiked a temperature on Monday, isn’t the only Kentucky Derby prospect in the area a little under the weather these days. So is Grade 1 winner Dullahan, who is battling a cough, said his trainer, Dale Romans.

Dullahan has not worked in nearly a month, with his last official work an easy five furlongs in 1:01.40 at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 14. Dullahan has not started since finishing a late-running fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

The first of three pools in the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager will open Friday at noon Eastern at tracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.

The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” wagering option, most likely will be favored again this year, just at it has been for Pool 1 in every year since Churchill Downs began offering parimutuel futures in 1999. Union Rags will be pegged as the top separate interest on the morning line when the Pool 1 lineup is released Wednesday afternoon.

Trainer Pat Byrne said Take Charge Indy's next major objective will likely be the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 10. Take Charge Indy, who closed his 2-year-old campaign finishing fifth in the BC Juvenile, earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure while finishing two lengths behind El Padrino in his 3-year-old debut.

Prospective Fountain of Youth starter, Discreet Dancer, did not get his scheduled work in Monday, but not because of the weather. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Discreet Dancer spiked a slight temperature Monday, forcing him to cancel his planned workout.

“We’re still 20 days out, so if he were to get over it quickly I wouldn’t rule out the possibility he still could make the Fountain of Youth,” said Pletcher who also confirmed that his unbeaten Algorithms will go in the Fountain of Youth.

On a quiet Saratoga morning last July, champion trainer Todd Pletcher sent a pair of promising unraced juveniles to the gate over the hallowed main track. Both babies shared the “bullet” designation after completing their five-furlong workouts in 58.89 seconds.