LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Calvin Borel is on the outside looking in - although not in the way he once did.
Borel will only ride in the 134th Kentucky Derby if his scheduled mount, Denis of Cork, can crack the top 20 by graded earnings. And a little more than a week before entries are to be taken for the May 3 Derby, the field was still in flux, with Denis of Cork right on the earnings bubble.
ARCADIA, Calif. - With the final prep for the May 3 Kentucky Derby having been run last Saturday, graded stakes earnings are set, and all that remains is to determine the starting field. That's probably going to be in flux right up until entry time Wednesday, April 30. Far more than 20 horses are still under consideration for the Derby, but with the field capped at 20 based on earnings in graded stakes races, some horses are in danger of being left out.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Early Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown worked five furlongs in 1:00.75 at Palm Meadows on Friday, his second breeze since winning the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 29.
With regular exercise rider Michelle Nevin aboard, Big Brown came out on the track shortly after dawn and went along without any encouragement, posting fractions of 12.39, 24.72, 36.79 and 48.58, according to Daily Racing Form. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.31.
"It was beautiful," said trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. "Everything couldnt be better."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Saying "I don't know if we'd go" before the race is one thing. Saying it amid a euphoric winner's circle celebration is quite another.
This same scene has been played out year after year with the Coolmore Lexington Stakes. Beforehand, horsemen tend to be nonchalant about whether winning the Lexington would mean going on to the Kentucky Derby, but afterward, in the flush of victory, they rarely have the will to resist temptation.
There was a time when most people ran a horse in the Kentucky Derby not because they could, but because they should. But the rule that caps the Derby field at 20 runners, hatched following the overzealousness of trainers and owners who entered 22 horses in the race in 1981, has seemingly had the opposite effect to which it was intended. Now the prevailing attitude is, if there's room for my horse, why not run?
With the exception of Big Brown and Colonel John, there is a good chance that not one 3-year-old will be coming into this year's Kentucky Derby on May 3 off consecutive winning races. Form, in many cases, has been inconsistent or inscrutable this spring, and has led - even at this late date less than three weeks from Derby Day - to an overflow number of horses still seeking berths in the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Two pieces of advice for anybody interested in watching the undefeated, 3-year-old sensation Big Brown train up to his role as the likely favorite in this year's Kentucky Derby: Plan to get up early and find a cheap flight to south Florida over the next couple of weeks.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Just as post positions were about to be drawn on Wednesday for the 12 3-year-olds entered in the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland, Jack Wolf, whose Starlight Stable is a co-owner of Monba, muttered to two people sitting next to him at breakfast, "I hope we get No. 5."
After 10 horses had posts assigned, pills 5 and 11 remained, as did slips for Halo Najib and Monba. The 11-pill was drawn, concurrent with Halo Najib's slip. Monba, indeed, got 5.
"That's the longest shot of the whole meet," Wolf said, laughing.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The winners of the three major Kentucky Derby prep races last Saturday will continue to Churchill Downs for the Derby on May 3, but the situation is uncertain for those who chased them, in many cases because of either questionable performances or the critical factor of earnings in graded stakes races.
