Arkansas Derby

NEW YORK -- Barry Irwin can't believe his good luck. From the moment his Team Valor purchased Captain Bodgit, everything has broken right.A deluge the day before the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park softened the fast track for the late-running Captain Bodgit. Then a mix-up involving nomination papers prompted Irwin and Gary Capuano, Captain Bodgit's Maryland trainer, to run today in the $500,000 Wood Memorial here at Aqueduct, instead of the $700,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, Ky.The Wood is the race Capuano wanted all along.

Animal Kingdom, winner of the Kentucky Derby, took an early-morning walk around Barn 22 at Churchill Downs on Monday as he prepared to spend his last day of the spring in Louisville. "We are going to leave early, sometime around 5:30 or 6," assistant trainer Dave Rock said of the journey to the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. "He is doing good and eating good, as always. " The van ride to Maryland was expected to take 11 to 12 hours. Animal Kingdom will prepare for the Preakness at Fair Hill and ship to Pimlico Race Course a day or two before the May21 race.

NEW YORK - If you're having trouble following the bouncing ball, then join the party. The lead-up to the Kentucky Derby has been incomprehensible. Long shots have won nearly every important Derby prep, and shocking long shots have won the most important two. Friends Lake captured the Florida Derby and paid $76.80. Castledale upset the Santa Anita Derby field and returned $62. What's more, the favorites have often faltered abysmally. The fastest horses seem to lack the breeding to sustain their speed for the Kentucky Derby's 1 1/4 miles, and the come-from-behind horses simply don't seem strong enough.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- For the people closely connected with Dinard and Cahill Road, the "what-ifs" of the 117th Kentucky Derby never will be answered.The same goes for Olympio, the Arkansas Derby winner, who was not entered yesterday. But the reason was not injury, as was the case for Dinard and Cahill Road.Trainer Ron McAnally had the luxury of choosing between Olympio and Sea Cadet for owner Verne Winchell. The deciding factor, McAnally said, was that the two-week period between the Arkansas Derby and tomorrow's race was simply not longenough.

Trainer Billy Boniface yesterday ruled out any possibility of running Oliver's Twist, winner of the Federico Tesio Stakes, in the Kentucky Derby next week.But he is aiming the horse for the Preakness on May 20.The Derby was eliminated, Boniface said, because "of the track [at Churchill Downs]. There's not enough time to ship there and acclimate him to the surface."Oliver's Twist is one of about five 3-year-olds who are skipping the Derby, but could be Preakness-bound. Others include the Nick Zito-trained pair of Star Standard and Mr. Greeley; Mystery Storm, second choice in Saturday's Arkansas Derby, who finished fifth; and Houston Sunrise, winner of the San Pedro Stakes at Santa Anita Park on April 12.Each of Zito's colts has won a stakes at the current Keeneland, Ky., race meet.

The final countdown to next Saturday's Kentucky Derby begins with the owners of more than 20 horses seeking glory in this nation's showcase race. Some will be disappointed even before the race is run.The Derby field is limited to 20 starters -- the 20 with the most earnings in graded-stakes races. Usually, that's easy to figure. This year, because of the investigation into Valhol's victory in the Arkansas Derby, the earnings of several potential starters remain in limbo.Billy Patin, the jockey of Valhol, a maiden until his runaway win in Arkansas, has been accused of carrying an illegal battery-operated device used to jolt horses into running faster.

Valhol's shocking victory in the Arkansas Derby was perhaps more shocking than imagined. What's more, an investigation into suspicions that jockey Billy Patin stimulated the gelding with an illegal electrical device could affect the field for the Kentucky Derby.The Derby on May 1 is limited to 20 horses. When the owners of more than 20 want to get in, the entrants are selected by earnings in graded stakes.While the Arkansas Racing Commission conducts its investigation, which could take weeks, the purse money of last weekend's Arkansas Derby will be withheld.

NEW YORK -- Pack the bags. Pack the bridle. This Maryland trainer is taking his horse to the Kentucky Derby.Mild-mannered as ever, Gary Capuano stood outside Barn 3 at Aqueduct yesterday and contemplated the journey he and his horse, Captain Bodgit, are about to make. The Kentucky Derby is May 3."He came out of the race super," said Capuano, referring to the Wood Memorial Stakes on Saturday, which Captain Bodgit won in the slop by two lengths. "After the race, he was alert and ready: 'Let's go some more.

Hot Wells, the fourth finisher in the Arkansas Derby, will be the first out-of-town horse to arrive for the 123rd Preakness.Trainer Tom Amoss said yesterday that the gelding will be at Pimlico tomorrow and is a definite starter."

Maryland might still have a runner in the Kentucky Derby.Mrs. Allaire duPont of Chesapeake City has not ruled out sending her colt Tank to the Louisville race on May 4.The horse will stay at Laurel, where he is currently stabled, at least through next week and then go to Churchill Downs the week of the Derby, if Mrs. duPont gives the go-ahead. He is scheduled to work at Laurel next Wednesday."We will only go if we think we have a shot to do really well," said Ben Perkins Jr., the horse's trainer.