We know the most unbreakable of all Kentucky Derby “rules.” Any aspirant that failed to race at 2 need not apply for a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. The last horse to win the Kentucky Derby without the benefit of at least one race as a juvenile was Apollo in 1882, 21 years before the very first World Series was played. For the last century, it is this juvenile foundation, or so it seems, that aids a Derby prospect through the winding road to Louisville.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Union Rags, Algorithms, and Discreet Dancer, the three leading contenders for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here at Gulfsream Park a week from Sunday, all turned in their penultimate works for the race on a very chilly Monday morning at Palm Meadows.

Union Rags, with his new rider Julien Leparoux aboard, worked an easy five-eighths in 1:03.08, according to track clocker Bryan Walls, much to the delight of trainer Michael Matz. Union Rags has not started since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the 14th time in as many years, the mutuel field is the favorite in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern following a three-day run that set a record for highest handle since Churchill Downs first began offering parimutuel futures in 1999.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Creative Cause will make his first start since November in the $150,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita next Sunday, and the two-time stakes winner is more than ready, trainer Mike Harrington said.

The winner of the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes in October and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November, Creative Cause worked six furlongs in 1:11.40 at Hollywood Park on Sunday, his final major exercise before the Grade 2 San Vicente over seven furlongs.

“I think he’s on his game,” Harrington said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After agonizing over the decision for several days, jockey Javier Castellano and his agent, Matt Muzikar, have chosen to ride Algorithms, not Union Rags, in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 26. Union Rags will be ridden by Julien Leparoux in the Fountain of Youth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Just call it the Todd Pletcher Hutcheson.

Pletcher won the 3,000th race of his training career earlier on Saturday’s card. Six of those victories had come in Gulfstream Park’s seven-furlong Hutcheson. A couple of hours later, Pletcher got his seventh Hutcheson trophy after Thunder Moccasin cruised to an easy and popular 6 3/4-length victory over Il Villano in the Grade 2 dash for 3-year-olds.    

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -  Trainer Jonathan Sheppard said that a combination of a week’s worth of bad weather and the prospect of a wet track on race day prompted him to scratch his Kentucky Derby prospect Ever So Lucky from his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s seven-furlong Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park.            

“He needed some good, strong gallops during the week especially after we gave him a conservative work because of the wet track at the beginning of the week,” Sheppard said at his barn during training hours Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The second of three days of wagering into Pool 1 of the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager will start with the mutuel field as the 3-5 favorite after $104,126 was bet into the win pool Friday. Pool 1 closes Sunday at 6 p.m., and as with any parimutuel wager, odds will change throughout the weekend, with final odds established at closing time.

The field, the 24th or “all others” option, stood as the 3-5 choice Saturday morning, followed by Union Rags (8-1), Algorithms (17-1), Alpha (21-1), Hansen (24-1), and Creative Cause (27-1).

Atigun, who started his 3-year-old season with a sharp first-level allowance win opening weekend at Oaklawn, is being pointed for the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes here Feb. 20, said his trainer, Ken McPeek. His connections had been debating whether to run back in the Southwest, at a mile, or await the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel on March 17, a race to be run at the same mile and a sixteenth distance over which he won at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The filly Princess Arabella is well-regarded enough to have been nominated to the Triple Crown by owner Peachtree Stable.

Whether she runs in such historic races will not be known for a few months. What is clear is that Princess Arabella is one of trainer Bob Baffert’s leading 3-year-old fillies, a point she is expected to emphasize in a $58,000 allowance race over seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Sunday.