Bob Baffert has had a decade-long love affair with the Kentucky Derby. Saturday will be Baffert's last chance to keep that romance going for this year.

Baffert will run Sort It Out in Saturday's $325,000 at Keeneland, hoping the New York-bred can revert to the form that brought him to Baffert's barn in the first place. Sort It Out would need nothing less than a victory to assure himself a spot in the Churchill Downs starting gate on May 7.

He has the same trainer, the same jockey, even an owner who is a car dealer from the Philadelphia area. The similarities between Smarty Jones and Rockport Harbor were obvious. And after winning all four of his starts last year, Rockport Harbor looked like he also had the talent to follow in the footsteps of Smarty Jones.

Jeremy Rose, who rode Afleet Alex to his runaway victory on Saturday in the Arkansas Derby, will retain the mount for the May 7 Kentucky Derby, according to a note posted on the horse's official website, www.afleetalex.com, Tuesday afternoon. The news was confirmed by J.J. Graci, a spokesman for the Cash Is King syndicate, which owns Afleet Alex.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Powerful victories by Afleet Alex in the Arkansas Derby and Bandini in the on Saturday helped further define the leading contenders for the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, but with less than three weeks until Derby Day, there are still more than 20 horses pointing for the 131st running of America's greatest horse race.

Blues and Royals, the runaway winner of last month's United Arab Emirates Derby, is suffering from a low-grade respiratory infection and has been taken out of consideration for the Kentucky Derby, it was announced Monday on the website of his owner, Godolphin Racing.

Blues and Royals won the UAE Derby by 12 lengths in his only start this year.

Rockport Harbor, in his final preparation for the Grade 2, $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes, had a strong gallop at Oaklawn Park on Saturday morning and was credited with a five-furlong breeze in 1:02.05. He was scheduled to fly to Kentucky on Sunday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - General John B, second in the Santa Anita Derby, will make his next start in the Kentucky Derby, said his owner, Ross McLeod, CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, the parent company of Hastings.

McLeod made the announcement in front of a large opening-day crowd at Hastings Saturday.

"If he gets in we're going," he said

McLeod bought General John B as a 2-year-old and originally planned to ship him to Hastings.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The twists and turns along the trail to the Kentucky Derby can give you motion sickness, but few horses have been through as many whipsaw curves as Afleet Alex this spring.

Three , only a handful of horses exiting those races are being pointed to the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The spectacular victory by Bellamy Road in the , which closed Sunday after four days of wagering.

Bellamy Road closed as the 3-1 favorite in Pool 3, which until Saturday had had a mixed bag of favorites hovering in the 8-1 range. But after Bellamy Road won the Wood in stakes-record time, the money came pouring in on the Nick Zito-trained colt, and if he captures the 131st Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7, his Pool 3 backers will collect an $8.80 payoff for every $2 wagered.