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.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On a dank and chilly morning that seemed to yield few hints that the 131st Kentucky Derby is just around the corner, Afleet Alex was the hottest thing going when he glided through a five-furlong breeze in a bullet 59 seconds Tuesday at Churchill Downs.

It was just another manic Monday on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

The training regimen of top Kentucky Derby candidate Afleet Alex is unlike that of most horses in North America.

And so are the results.

High Fly and Noble Causeway have been on parallel paths for a little more than two months, with on Feb. 5 and March 5 before their one-two finish in the Florida Derby on April 2. So it was only appropriate that the two colts, who are at Churchill Downs preparing for the Kentucky Derby on May 7, would work minutes apart Friday morning in what is likely to be their penultimate drill for the Derby.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The back door is open. Now all Rockport Harbor has to do is come barging through.

As the most obvious candidate to advance to the 131st Kentucky Derby, Rockport Harbor will be a solid favorite to successfully employ the so-called backdoor route to Churchill Downs when he faces seven other 3-year-olds Saturday in the $325,000 at Keeneland.