Churchill Downs

Parx Racing will resume live racing Friday with a first post of 12:25 p.m. There also will be early wagering on Saturday's Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb pleased trainer Shug McGaughey on Thursday with a steady workout on a sloppy track at Belmont Park. "He jogged three-eighths to a half-mile and galloped a mile. I thought everything was good," said McGaughey, whose colt had jogged a mile Wednesday at the track in Elmont, N.Y., in his first workout since his 21/2-length victory at Churchill Downs on Saturday. "The track was still sloppy," he said. "[Exercise rider Jenn Patterson] said he was kind of bucking and playing and jumping the water puddles on the backstretch.

  1. Verrazano (Todd Pletcher, trainer; John Velazquez, jockey): Worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.20 Sunday at Churchill Downs, third fastest of 40 at the same distance. ... Wood winner is unbeaten in all four starts and will try to become the eighth unbeaten Derby winner. ... Final Derby future wager odds: 7-1. 2. Orb (Shug McGaughey, Joel Rosario): Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby winner worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 Sunday at Payson Park. ... Gets original rider back now that Johnny V has chosen Verrazano.

Few American sporting events are richer in tradition than the Kentucky Derby. The twin spires of Churchill Downs soaring into the spring sky, the playing of "My Old Kentucky Home" as the horses walk onto the track, the roses gracing the neck of the winner - all are well-known symbols of the world's most famous horse race. But there are other, less well-known Derby traditions, like the saddling of the horses before the race. An important pre-race event, yes, but not a very visible one, because for years, the saddling has been done in a small, dark paddock building that was shaded by a low roof and that was packed with nervous, high-spirited horses, horse owners, horse trainers, horse handlers, assorted officials and hangers- on. Well, tradition dies hard at the Derby - Churchill Downs president Thomas Meeker once observed that even if something connected with the race had been done a certain way for just a few years, people acted as though that was the way it had been "since the Earth cooled.

Notes LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The saddle Edgar Prado rode when he took Barbaro to victory in the Kentucky Derby now belongs to the colt's owners. "Well, it's Edgar's saddle; he just used it on Barbaro," co-owner Gretchen Jackson said after a book signing Saturday at Churchill Downs. "We just love the idea that it's going to be back with us. " The saddle was sold for $220,000 on Friday, and the money will go to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund. Gretchen Jackson and her husband, Roy, claimed the saddle after some backroom negotiations with Dwight Manley, national manager of the Jockeys' Guild.

Area tracks will be able to simulcast Saturday's Kentucky Derby after Churchill Downs Inc. and the 17 tracks that make up the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative L.L.C. reached an agreement on the price of simulcasting. The resolution came late Friday night after the Mid-Atlantic tracks, including Philadelphia Park and Delaware Park, had stopped taking simulcast signals from Churchill Downs and two of its parent company's other tracks, Hollywood in California and Calder in Florida. "We're very happy with the resolution," said Bill Fasy, Delaware Park's chief operating officer.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - According to trainer Bob Baffert, Bodemeister is not the kind of horse who flashes his ability gratuitously. If you want to see the best the son of Empire Maker has to offer, you better be prepared to ask for it. "When he's just galloping, he's sort of lazy," Baffert said. "That's what took me so long to get him to the races is we thought maybe he needs more time. But finally we said, 'We're going to run him,' and then, boom. " The Arkansas Derby winner answered the bell when called upon Sunday, working five furlongs in 59.60 with Kentucky Oaks hopeful Jemima's Pearl at Churchill Downs in his last major move before Saturday's Kentucky Derby.