The Olympics are in full swing, spring training is revving up and March Madness is closing in. Oh, and by the way, the long, precarious road is open to the Kentucky Derby on May 1.
A total of 366 3-year-olds are nominated to the Derby and the other Triple Crown races, from 2-year-old champion Lookin At Lucky, to a long shot gelding co-owned by Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, to a full brother of ill-fated 2006 Derby winner Barbaro.
The Derby field is limited to 20 starters, and it'll be the prep races from Arkansas to Arcadia, Calif., New Orleans to New York, and Gulfstream to Keeneland that determine who ends up at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
The usual Derby-driven trainers dominate the list of nominees. Four-time Derby winner D. Wayne Lukas has 19 nominees, two-time Derby winner Nick Zito has 15 and three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert has 13. Todd Pletcher tops them all with 20 as he seeks his first Derby winner (he's 0 for 24).
Baffert's barn appears loaded, at least early on.
Lookin At Lucky -- starts off at No. 1 in The Associated Press' Run to the Roses Top 10 list of Kentucky Derby contenders.
The bay colt who sold for $475,000 has won five of six starts, including the Del Mar Futurity, Norfolk Stakes and CashCall Futurity, all Grade 1 races. Lookin At Lucky's only loss was by a head to Vale of York in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Baffert called the colt's 4-furlong workout in 48.20 seconds Sunday at Santa Anita "nice" as the horse gets ready for his 3-year-old debut in the San Felipe on March 13.
San Rafael Stakes winner Conveyance, another Baffert trainee, is No. 6 on the list.
Buddy's Saint, 3 for 3 last year, is No. 2 with his seasonal debut set for Saturday's Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
Brees' Derby hopeful is Daddy Forty Nine. The gelding is owned by Last Mango Racing Stable, formed by New Orleans Saints vice president of communications Greg Bensel. Other partners include Saints coach Sean Payton, singer Jimmy Buffett and the Monday Night Football announcing crew of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden.
Lentenor, a full brother to Barbaro, won his 3-year-old debut and is scheduled to run today at Gulfstream in a 1eth-mile allowance race on the turf. Like Barbaro, the colt is owned by Gretchen and Roy Jackson and trained by Michael Matz.
No less than six Derby preps are on tap Saturday: the Risen Star, the El Camino Real Derby, the Fountain of Youth and Hutcheson, the Turf Paradise Derby and the rescheduled Southwest Stakes.
Recapping the holiday weekend:
- Sidney's Candy pulled away from Tiny Woods for a 41/4-length victory in the San Vicente on Monday, giving trainer John Sadler a bona fide Derby prospect. Winning time for 7 furlongs was a speedy 1:20.91. Tiny Woods is another of Baffert's 3-year-olds.
- The Southwest Stakes was postponed Monday because of icy conditions at Oaklawn Park.
- California-bred Caracortado pulled an upset in the Robert Lewis at Santa Anita on Saturday, with late-closing Dave in Dixie 13/4 lengths back in second. American Lion was third and Baffert's favorite Tiz Chrome fourth.
- Pletcher's Rule went wire-to-wire for a three-length win over Schoolyard Dreams in the 1 1-16th-mile Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs.
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