LEXINGTON, Ky. - It has been a cold last month for trainer Doug O'Neill, so he was more than happy to escape the morning chill in the stands at Keeneland on Friday and head to the warmth of the press box, where he sat alongside the clockers while putting several of his horses, including two prospects for the May 5 Kentucky Derby, through their drills.

When Dominican ran last Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, handicappers were trying to assess whether he measured up. Those closest to him already knew he did.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bill Kaplan fell in love with Storm in May the moment he saw him at the Ocala 2-year-old sale last April. But Kaplan believed that this gray son of Tiger Ridge would almost certainly command a final bid beyond the price range for him and his girlfriend, Felicity Waugh - until he learned Storm in May was blind in one eye.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 10 1/2-length romp by Curlin in the Arkansas Derby led bettors to make the colt the clear-cut favorite in the third and final pool in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which ended a four-day run Sunday evening.

Curlin closed as the 7-2 favorite in Pool 3, which drew $465,123, third-highest in the nine-year history of Churchill Downs offering parimutuel futures. The aggregate total handle for the three Derby future pools this year was $1,365,424, fourth-highest in history.

If you thought the Apollo mission ended in the 1970s after several trips to the moon, think again. By virtue of his runaway victory in the Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, Curlin emerged as the favorite for the May 5 Kentucky Derby, quite an accomplishment for a colt who had not even raced before Feb. 3. Now, a year after Barbaro ended one of the Derby’s seemingly iron-clad handicapping angles, Curlin will try to smash another one that has lasted 125 years.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Hard Spun left Keeneland early Thursday morning, and was back in his stall here shortly after noon. In between, though, he made a quick trip over to Churchill Downs, where he turned in a five-furlong work that convinced trainer Larry Jones to stay on course for the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It snowed on opening day last Friday here at Keeneland, rain arrived on Wednesday, and more was forecast for later in the week. But for the first time in the 83-year history of the Blue Grass Stakes, no one was concerned about what would happen to the main track.

"With the Polytrack, you don't have to worry about the weather or a hard track," said trainer Carl Nafzger, who will send out Kentucky Derby favorite Street Sense in the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass on Saturday. "You can eliminate those factors."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the regional finals having been run this past weekend in California, Illinois, and New York, focus for the May 5 Kentucky Derby becomes a little more narrowed. Other than the Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, all the action will be taking place here in Kentucky, where Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes and the Lexington Stakes on April 21 are the final graded stakes leading to the Derby.

ARCADIA, Calif. - On Saturday night, halfway around the world at Nad Al Sheba in Dubai, Paul Reddam led Spring at Last into the winner's circle following the Godolphin Mile. Reddam then pulled an all-nighter in an attempt to watch Notional in the Florida Derby on a computer screen at his hotel. A few hours later, having forgone sleep - "There was no point going to bed," he said - Reddam and his wife, Zillah, were on a plane to New York, and then on to their home in California, where they arrived Sunday night, though their luggage was lost somewhere en route.

Trainer Todd Pletcher will call an audible when entries are taken Wednesday morning at Aqueduct in New York for the Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial on Saturday, he said Tuesday night. Louisiana Derby winner Circular Quay, who had been expected to run in the Wood, instead will bypass that race and train up to the May 5 Kentucky Derby, and his place will be taken by Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Any Given Saturday, who had been scheduled to run April 14 in the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.