ARCADIA, Calif. - It never rains in California? Yeah, right. Boy, don't they warn you. It pours. Man, it pours. Twice last month, Saturday cards were washed away here at Santa Anita because heavy rain left standing water atop the synthetic Pro-Ride surface. On both days, major stakes for 3-year-olds were scheduled. The first time, the Robert Lewis Stakes was brought back a week later with five of the eight who were originally entered, and Caracortado prevailed.

There are owners who go out and spend millions of dollars looking for a Kentucky Derby horse, and trainers who stockpile prospects in the hope that one of them gets there. Mike Machowsky does not have that luxury. He trains 15 horses. Not 15 3-year-olds. Fifteen horses. Yet of those 15, two - Caracortado and Nextdoorneighbor, both homebreds - have emerged as legitimate Derby contenders, and are taking the Santa Anita-based Machowsky, 44, on the ride of his life.

Lookin At Lucky, the champion 2-year-old colt of 2009, is on course to make his 2010 debut on March 13, but whether he remains at Santa Anita for that day's Grade 2, $150,000 San Felipe Stakes, or heads to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes has yet to be determined, according to trainer Bob Baffert.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Standing along the outer rail while bracing himself against the morning chill at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday, trainer Patrick Biancone barely betrayed a hint of anger over having been suspended one year in the fall of 2007 after three sealed vials of cobra venom were found in his barn at Keeneland. He has either achieved a Zen-like peace with the outcome or has a really good poker face. Perhaps both.

"What was I going to do?" he said. "I could either shoot myself or go play poker."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the 12th 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 betting window.

The field, the 24th or "all others" alternative to 23 separately listed interests, closed as the 3-2 favorite in the first of three futures pools. Juvenile champion Lookin At Lucky was next at 8-1, followed by Buddy's Saint (10-1), then by a cluster of eight horses in the 20-1 to 28-1 range.

At least one sizable bet placed just minutes after wagering opened helped to make the mutuel field a heavy early favorite in Pool 1 of the 2010 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opened Friday at noon Eastern at tracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.

I Want Revenge, who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Saturday morning, was being evaluated at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic in Lexington, Ky., on Monday, but regardless of the diagnosis, he will be given "six weeks to two months off on a farm," co-owner David Lanzman said Monday.

I Want Revenge was determined to have soreness and slight swelling in his left front ankle on Saturday morning. After consulting with trainer Jeff Mullins and veterinarians Dr. Foster Northrop and Dr. Larry Bramlage, the decision was made to scratch.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. was running a horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time, and he wasn't going to let a little thing like a broken leg keep him from making the walk over from the barn area before the race. He came over alongside a 50-1 shot, largely ignored by the raucous crowd along the outside rail. But minutes later Woolley became, improbably, a Derby winner.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If Larry Jones had any second thoughts about retiring at year's end, Saturday's 135th Kentucky Derby erased them.

With seemingly everything set up for Friesan Fire to give Jones his first Kentucky Derby trophy, the colt failed to fire, finishing 18th of 19, beaten 42 3/4 lengths as the 7-2 favorite.

The result came after Jones finished second in each of the last two Kentucky Derbies, with Hard Spun in 2007 and Eight Belles in 2008.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With devastation written all over their faces, the connections of I Want Revenge announced Saturday morning they had to scratch their horse out of the 135th Kentucky Derby because of soreness in his left front ankle.