Kentucky Derby: A final primer before the most exciting two minutes in sports

Where to find live odds, our handicapper's picks and a couple of worthy reads before the 138th Kentucky Derby

And if you’re looking for some heavier reading leading up to the Derby, here are a few suggestions. In its heyday, horse racing drew many of this country’s very best writers:

• Here's a PDF version of "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," by the great Hunter S. Thompson. It's got foul language, and it pobably doesn't totally capture the experience of being here in 2012 -- or of anybody's reality, really, other than Mr. Thompson's -- but they'll read it long after you and are gone.
• No story explains the world of horse racing better than Pure Heart, by William Nack. To many, horse racing is significant for a month each year as a group of 3-year-olds chases the roses and then one of them gets a chance at the Triple Crown. But if you want to know how the whole thing feels -- how it is to have a colt and have him grow so strong and fast and then to see him stud and eventually die -- this is the best place to go.

Now, a few notes of interest about two of the horses we haven’t talked about much here:

• Take Charge Indy has been overlooked, despite winning the Florida Derby. As I’ve written elsewhere, most handicappers have dismissed that race because of the way Union Rags, the heavy favorite, appeared to be targeted by other horses (including El Padrino.) But Calvin Borel, who has won the Derby three times (in nine mounts), will take the colt out from the No. 3 position. He’ll handle the early traffic well, if history serves.
• Daddy Long Legs drew the unfavorable first post position, and his trainer, Aiden O’Brien, didn’t make the race. But it would probably be foolish to not at least acknowledge the Irish colt trained by one of most talented horsemen in the world. Daddy Long Legs finished 12th out of 13 at last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here, and nine horses from that race will go off in the Derby. But Daddy Long Legs had an outside post in that race, and broke poorly from the gate. He’s been schooled with an American gate and O'Brien does like him (but he also has a favorite in the 2000 Guineas back home. “He’s not here for the good of his health, you know,” assistant trainer T.J. Comerford told The Courier-Journal.