A little less than seven weeks out from the Kentucky Derby, trainer Larry Jones is sitting in a good spot. Sure, it could be better. Had Old Fashioned won the Rebel Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, Jones unquestionably would have the top two contenders for the Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs. But the ascension of Friesan Fire, who turned in a career-best effort in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, more than made up for any subsequent disappointment later Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS - In this Kentucky Derby election cycle, the early returns have been encouraging for California. It is a trend trainer Gary Stute is hoping continues Saturday, when he sends out Papa Clem, the runner-up in last month's Robert Lewis Stakes, in the Grade 2, $600,000 Louisiana Derby here at Fair Grounds.

Churchill Downs has suspended all win and exacta wagering in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wagering involving Big Drama (No. 3), who was declared out of consideration for the May 2 race by trainer David Fawkes this week. Big Drama missed too much training time after undergoing minor surgery for a bone bruise earlier this year, according to Fawkes. His defection leaves 22 separately listed entries, plus the mutuel field, in Pool 2 of the Derby futures, which run Thursday through Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - By most accounts, and simply by looking at wagering trends, the Kentucky Derby Future Wager had become a bit passe as a win-only wager. Now in its 11th year, the bet had seen no variation whatsoever in its wagering format since 1999, the first year Churchill Downs offered parimutuel futures.

That all changes Thursday at noon Eastern, when exacta wagering joins win wagering as part of Pool 2 of the Derby futures. Derby Pool 2 will coincide with the only available future wager for this year's Kentucky Oaks.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bobby Frankel says that one of the first times he met Richard Dutrow Jr., Dutrow "asked if I'd let him bet $200 on a football team."

"The team lost," Frankel recalled Wednesday morning at Santa Anita. "And he never paid me back."

Frankel was smiling as he said this because, perhaps as a result of this winter at Santa Anita, they'll now have to call it even.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The road to the 135th Kentucky Derby veered into several lanes over the weekend, an autobahn for stakes winners Quality Road and The Pamplemousse, potholes for Capt. Candyman Can and This Ones For Phil, and a stop sign for Midshipman and Notonthesamepage.

Midshipman, last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and champion 2-year-old, has been injured and will miss the Triple Crown, according to a statement Sunday on the website of his owner, .

The statement said Midshipman suffered a minor soft tissue injury in his left foreleg during routine training at the Al Quoz exercise facility in Dubai. He was preparing to make his 3-year-old debut at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday in the Al Bastikiya, a listed stakes.

It took more than 45 years to make Tom McCarthy an overnight sensation. Now semi-retired from a life spent first as a trainer, then in public education, McCarthy has hit the jackpot with General Quarters, who scored an upset win last week in the Sam Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. On a Derby Watch list that includes such prominent names as Bob Baffert and Bobby Frankel, Larry Jones and John Ward, Rick Dutrow, Barclay Tagg, and Steve Asmussen, McCarthy finds himself right there with his horse.

His one and only horse.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the 11th time in as many years, the mutuel field closed as the favorite in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which ended its customary four-day run Sunday.

The field, the 24th or "all others" option, closed as the 9-5 favorite over the 23 separately listed 3-year-olds in the first of three futures pools.

After his victory in Thursday's UAE 2000 Guineas, Desert Party was introduced by the British bookmaker Coral into their Derby betting at 16-1. In the Kentucky Derby Future Wager in the United States, through midafternoon Friday, he was only 3-2, part of the mutuel field. By far the best price was available in Las Vegas: Harrah's Race Book had Desert Party at 60-1.