Arkansas Derby

Even before Turkish Tryst gave birth to this area's latest Kentucky Derby hopeful, Unionville's Michael Moran had gotten his money's worth from the redheaded mare he used to train. "She was like the goose that laid the golden egg for me," Moran said recently. Bought for $39,000, Turkish Tryst was good to him on the racetrack, and even better after retiring to the breeding shed. Now she is the mother of a colt foaled on a farm in Malvern who is trying to make it to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May. Still undefeated after four races, that colt, Hard Spun, is slated to race in today's $250,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. For all his early promise - winning races at Delaware Park, Philadelphia Park and the Fair Grounds in New Orleans - Hard Spun, now owned by Rick Porter of Wilmington, remains basically untested.

Kentucky Derby contender With a City was euthanized yesterday after his condition from an unknown illness deteriorated. Trainer Mike Maker said the colt became ill Thursday. He was taken to the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, but his condition worsened, Maker said. "They treated him for everything and ran tests on everything," Maker said in a statement. Officials may never determine what killed the Derby contender, he said. Equirace.com owned With a City, who would have been the first Kentucky Derby starter for Maker.

Jeremy Rose watched the race from the jockeys' room the only time he wasn't on Afleet Alex's back. Maybe it had to play out that way, to get Rose where he is now, riding the favorite in the Belmont Stakes, coming off a highlight-film performance in the Preakness Stakes. Maybe Rose had to lose the ride on Afleet Alex, the best horse he'd ever seen. The 26-year-old didn't blame a soul, even said he agreed with it. After it happened, he kept riding other horses for Afleet Alex's trainer, Tim Ritchey.

John Silvertand schedules his life around the horse now. Silvertand's life isn't an easy one. Chemotherapy comes every other Monday; that knocks him out for a couple of days. But he mapped out this plan weeks ago. He won't have any chemo today, since it's Kentucky Derby week, and Silvertand will be at Churchill Downs. He'll have a rooting interest of a lifetime, as the breeder of Afleet Alex, the Delaware Park-based horse that will be one of the favorites Saturday in the Derby.

They have been bringing them into the winner's circle at Oaklawn Park for 101 years, but yesterday had to be the first time a strip of grass inside a hedge shaped like a horseshoe was transformed into a raucous Northeast Philadelphia tap room. "I love you guys!" screamed Joe Lerro, who grew up in the Northeast and owns a beer distributorship there. Lerro acted as head cheerleader for his fellow owners in that crowded winner's circle after yesterday's $1 million Arkansas Derby. "I love every one of you!

A month ago, Afleet Alex was a hot Kentucky Derby pick. That was before the Delaware Park-based colt finished last in the Rebel Stakes on March 19. Never mind the lung infection that practically stopped him in his tracks that day. Around the country, he is yesterday's news. This week's National Thoroughbred Racing Association 3-year-old media poll had Afleet Alex 19th. The horse who was voted 18th already is considered to be out of the Derby. "It doesn't make a difference," trainer Tim Ritchey said yesterday.

Rockport Harbor, the injury-plagued Philadelphia Park-based colt trying to get to the Kentucky Derby, will skip Saturday's Arkansas Derby and wait for the April 23 Lexington Stakes, his owner said yesterday. "He should be very fit for that race," owner Rick Porter of Wilmington said via e-mail, "and is not afraid of coming back in two weeks for the [Kentucky] Derby, since he is so lightly raced since November of '04. " Trainer John Servis had jockey Stewart Elliott fly in for a workout yesterday morning at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Rockport Harbor worked seven furlongs in 1 minute, 25 3/5 seconds.

Keith Jones, a former Flyer and current WIP-AM Morning Show sidekick, issued a big-money horse-racing challenge on the radio yesterday. The response was mixed. Jones, owner of a 3 percent share of a colt named Wild Desert, who is entered in the April 16 Arkansas Derby, challenged the owners of two other local colts who may run in that race to put up $50,000 to go to the top horse of the bunch, with the money going to charity. Afleet Alex's managing partner, Chuch Zacney of Phoenixville, said he was up for it, and tried to call in to the radio station yesterday but couldn't get through.

Rick Porter loves his horse. He knows he's biased but, Rockport Harbor's owner said, "I think he's the best three-year-old in the country. I haven't seen any stride like his in a long time. " But Rockport Harbor can't catch a break these days. After battling hoof problems for months, the colt from Philadelphia Park now is being treated for a blood clot in his neck that has slowed him less than five weeks before the Kentucky Derby. The April 16 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., was supposed to be the colt's last prep before the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

Rockport Harbor has an undetermined ailment, which forced trainer John Servis to cancel his scheduled workout Saturday in Hot Springs, Ark., and put his status for the April 16 Arkansas Derby in question, according to BloodHorse.com. The problem is not related to his right hind foot, which was gashed when the Philadelphia Park-based colt won the Remsen Stakes in November at Aqueduct in New York. Rockport Harbor does not have a fever. "They think he had a reaction to a buildup shot he had a couple days ago," Fox Hill owner Rick Porter of Wilmington told the Web site Saturday.