LOUISVILLE, Ky. - They have stalked each other all spring. From Florida to Kentucky, trainers Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito have dominated much of the Kentucky Derby prep races, often at the expense of each other.

Zito won the Fountain of Youth Stakes, Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, Tampa Bay Derby, and Sam Davis Stakes. Pletcher countered in the Lane's End Stakes, Blue Grass Stakes, and Lexington Stakes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Roger Stein was getting Derby fever. Unfortunately, an ultrasound test discovered a cure for it.

General John B, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up who would have been Stein's first starter in the Kentucky Derby, developed filling in his left knee just outside the tendon and has been removed from consideration for the 131st Run for the Roses next Saturday.

Weather: Raining, Temp. 49
Track: Sloppy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nick Zito and Bobby Frankel are not only excellent horsemen, they obviously know a little something about the weather, too. Both called audibles on Thursday, moving scheduled works for Andromeda's Hero and High Limit up 24 hours. They looked like geniuses Friday morning when rain fell both prior to and during training hours, leaving the Churchill Downs racetrack covered in slop.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has spent almost as much time handicapping the weather as he has the field for this year's Kentucky Derby. Intermittent rain in recent days has made it difficult for McLaughlin to decide where and when Closing Argument's all-important final Derby workout will take place.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - General John B, the runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby, was withdrawn from consideration from the Kentucky Derby on Friday after being diagnosed with a small problem in his left knee, trainer Roger Stein said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - B. Wayne Hughes should have a motto for the next week: Don't Get Mad, get in.

The California-based owner has two candidates for the 131st Kentucky Derby, which will be run one week from Saturday. But the one that he would prefer to be in the Derby, Greeley's Galaxy, needs a defection or two by entry time Wednesday to get in, and the other one, Don't Get Mad, would be coming back just one week after competing in Saturday's at Churchill Downs, a scenario not normally preferred by that colt's trainer, Ron Ellis.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In his more than 60 years on the racetrack, trainer Warren Stute has had only one starter in the Kentucky Derby, Field Master in 1967. He is hoping to get a chance again this year, with Greeley's Galaxy, the winner of the Illinois Derby. But whether that colt makes the race or not, Stute appeared to be having the time of his life Thursday morning at Churchill Downs, telling stories to a thicket of media members who largely had never encountered the spry, 83-year-old trainer.

Weather: Cloudy, Temp. 45
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A little more than a month ago, all was right in the world for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He had won three stakes races at Santa Anita with his tag team of Consolidator and Going Wild, both of whom appeared on target for the May 7 Kentucky Derby here at Churchill Downs.

Weather: Cloudy Temp. 49
Track: Muddy

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Wednesday morning proved to be a relatively quiet one for Kentucky Derby hopefuls stabled at Churchill Downs with the most notable activity taking place, as it almost always does when a member of trainer D. Wayne Lukas' barn is involved, well before dawn.

The racetrack was muddy when the course opened at 6:00 a.m. and improved slightly as the morning progressed.