HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The richest Kentucky Derby prep race in the country will be run at Oaklawn Park on Saturday when $1 million will be on the line in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, yet all anyone wanted to talk about on the backstretch here on Monday morning was the runaway victory by Eskendereya in the , both last Saturday.

It's only natural that as an Englishman, with a love for European racing, trainer Jeremy Noseda rates the historic Epsom Derby as the race he most covets. But having a great appreciation for American racing - and having trained here for two years - Noseda has a keen desire to participate in this country's greatest race, the Kentucky Derby.

"I think it might be as hard a race to win as any in the world," Noseda said. "It's a unique test, and it's a great race. I'd be thrilled just to have the opportunity to compete in it. That's why I've kept this horse."

Six 3-year-olds, including the runner-up in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, were nominated to the Triple Crown by the late-nomination deadline of March 27.

Five of the six horses who were nominated by the late deadline are scheduled to run in major Triple Crown prep races this weekend. The horses are Carnivore, Game Ball, Posse Power, Thomas Baines, Raise the Bridle, and Yawanna Twist.

Winning preps for the Kentucky Derby is one thing. Winning the race is another matter. Just ask trainer Todd Pletcher, who has been there, but not done that.

Pletcher is knocking off Derby preps like a general on a march. On Saturday, he added the to a spring campaign whose stakes conquests already include the Fountain of Youth, Risen Star, El Camino Real Derby, and Sam Davis. Still to come are bids in the Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass, and Lexington.

What a difference a horse makes - a Kentucky Derby-winning horse. They know all too well in Pennsylvania, where Smarty Jones resuscitated the state's racing and breeding programs. His Derby win in 2004, coupled with his subsequent bid for the Triple Crown, got the attention of the state's lawmakers, who enacted legislation that increased gaming in the state, a portion of which was earmarked for racing, thus fueling a spectacular rise in purses and monies available to breeders.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The top three finishers from Saturday's came out of their races in good order and will now set their sights on the May 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, their connections said Sunday.

A guy who helped change the course of racing will be running a horse in the Grade 1, $750,000 Florida Derby on Saturday, but most of the fans in the crowd at Gulfstream Park would probably not be able to identify him. Yet whenever trainer Cam Gambolati meets strangers, be it on an airplane or some other social setting, and is asked what he does, inevitably there is a follow-up question: "Ever win the Kentucky Derby?"

ARCADIA, Calif. - How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you get to the May 1 Kentucky Derby? That depends. It is not a one-way street, as evidenced by the winners of the three graded Derby preps last Saturday. They could not be taking more dissimilar paths to Churchill Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - He's still the fastest pun in the West, quick with a laugh-out-loud one-liner, and that shock of white hair makes Bob Baffert the most recognizable figure in racing, someone who gets shout-outs from fans at Lakers games, and jets on up to Vancouver to watch his pal Bode Miller ski in the Olympics.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The mutuel field, which includes the winners of both prep races run this weekend, continued as a clear-cut favorite going into the last of three days of betting into Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.