Defending divisional champion War Pass was the lukewarm favorite following light wagering in the opening hours of Pool 2 of the 2008 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which began Thursday at noon Eastern at wagering outlets throughout North America.

As of 4 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, War Pass was the 3-1 choice, followed by Pyro at 6-1. The mutuel field, the 24th or "all others" option, was the third choice at 8-1, followed by Court Vision (9-1), Denis of Cork (11-1), and Georgie Boy (15-1). Handle to that point was $15,016.

NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Steve Asmussen stood outside Pyro's stall at his Fair Grounds barn on Wednesday morning, admiring the best of his three prospects for this year's Kentucky Derby. Asmussen probably was a little envious, too. There was Pyro, the buzz horse of this year's Derby preps, getting heavy lidded as he prepared to doze off following his morning routine. Asmussen, only days removed from a trip halfway around the world and back, and with his top assistant remaining in Dubai, had no such time to lay about.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The trainers of 3-year-olds based in California this winter are hoping their Kentucky Derby prospects are not as artificial as the surfaces over which they have been racing.

The current crop of 3-year-olds is the first of locally based horses who - unless they sneak in a race at Bay Meadows or leave the state in the next two months - will head to the Kentucky Derby on May 5 without ever having raced on conventional dirt, which is still in place at Churchill Downs.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - The deck appeared stacked for trainer Todd Pletcher last year. In the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, he won the Fountain of Youth Stakes, Florida Derby, Illinois Derby, and Louisiana Derby. He sent out five horses in the Kentucky Derby - Any Given Saturday, Circular Quay, Cowtown Cat, Sam P., and Scat Daddy - then watched the deck turn into a crumbling house of cards, leaving Pletcher 0 for 19 in the Derby.

That whole thing about strength in numbers, Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito can tell you, when it comes to the Kentucky Derby, it's a damn lie. Twice in the last three years, a trainer has saddled 25 percent of the final Derby field, five of the 20 runners. Zito did it in 2005, Pletcher last year. And of those 10 horses, the best any of them could finish was sixth.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new calendar is one sign, and the running of the first few prep races is another. Still another sign that the Kentucky Derby chase has begun is the first of three pools in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Thursday at racetracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The game plan that Carl Nafzger used in getting Street Sense to win the Kentucky Derby apparently has an addendum.

By breezing five furlongs at Churchill Downs in 1:00 on Tuesday, the day before he was to be flown to Baltimore for the 132nd Preakness, Street Sense added another flawless chapter to his trainer's script. "Perfect," is how Nafzger described the work, just as he had unfailingly described the manner in which Street Sense had approached the May 5 Derby, which the colt won by

2 1/4 lengths in brilliant fashion.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - From the Louisiana bayou to the White House for dinner and a visit with the Queen of England. That's how far Calvin Borel has come.

Borel, who gave a textbook ride in guiding Street Sense to a

2 1/4-length victory Saturday in the 133rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, left Louisville early Monday with his fiancee, Lisa Funk, for a white-tie dinner with President Bush and Queen Elizabeth II later that evening. Borel becomes the first winning jockey in Derby history to be invited to the White House.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The best 2-year-old on the first Saturday in November proved the best 3-year-old on the first Saturday in May, as Street Sense became the first Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner to capture the in the 133rd Derby at Churchill Downs.

Street Sense also became the first 2-year-old champion to win the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979. Street Sense's trainer, Carl Nafzger, was winning the Derby for the second time, following Unbridled in 1990. His jockey, Calvin Borel, scored his first Derby victory, as did Jim Tafel, who bred and owns Street Sense.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's wait till next year yet again for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Though by his own admission he brought the strongest hand he ever had to the Kentucky Derby, Pletcher failed to achieve victory in the world's most famous horse race. Pletcher saddled a record-equaling five horses in Saturday's Run for the Roses, and his best finish was Circular Quay, who finished sixth.

Pletcher's other runners were Any Given Saturday (8th), Sam P. (9th), Scat Daddy (18th), and Cowtown Cat (last of 20).