Santa Anita Derby

Verrazano crossed his final bridge on the road to the Kentucky Derby with a narrow victory in the $1 million Wood Memorial that likely sends the colt to Churchill Downs as the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May. Sweeping into the lead around the far turn, Verrazano held off the challenges of Vyjack and Normandy Invasion and improved his record to 4-0. The 3-year-old trained by Todd Pletcher won by three-quarters of a length over Normandy Invasion,...

Mister Frisky, the hero of Puerto Rico, will attempt to add America's greatest racing prize to his string of victories here today in the 116th running of the Kentucky Derby. The Florida-bred colt, whose parents never won a stakes race, will be the first undefeated Derby champion since Seattle Slew if he can beat a competitive field of 14 rivals led by the 7-5 early-line favorite, Summer Squall. Partly cloudy skies and a 40 percent chance of rain have been forecast for Derby Day. The temperature is expected to hit a high of 65. Post time is 5:32 (Channels 6, 7, 4:30 p.m.)

Garden State Park officials tried, but they will not get Snow Chief for the $200,000 Garden State Stakes on April 19. The colt, unbeaten this year, will make his next start in the 112th Kentucky Derby, in which he almost certainly will be favored. Snow Chief, already the winner of the Florida Derby, did nothing to lengthen his Derby odds Sunday when he waltzed away with a barely contested, six-length victory in the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby. Mel Stute, who trains Snow Chief for breeder Carl Grinstead and co-owner Ben Rochelle, said yesterday that he would hold to his schedule of giving the colt one race each month until the Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bob Baffert says Jaycito and The Factor are still being considered for the Kentucky Derby. Baffert wrote in a text message on Wednesday to the Associated Press that The Factor will train right up until the Run for the Roses. A final decision won't be made until the horse breezes over the dirt under the twin spires at Churchill Downs. The Rebel Stakes winner is coming off a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Arkansas Derby. Baffert added that Jaycito, currently 20th on the graded stakes earnings list, will not run in Saturday's Lexington Stakes at Keeneland.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the Kentucky Derby was first run in 1875, black jockeys were dominating the sport, as they had done since horses first started racing in fields all over America before and after the Revolution. In that first Derby, 13 of the 15 horses were ridden by African-American jockeys. Exactly 15 of the first 28 Derbies were won by black jockeys, former slaves and sons of former slaves. Isaac Murphy was the first rider to win the Derby three times. Judging by his statistics, he may have been the greatest jockey who ever lived.

Download our bettors' guide and in-depth look at the Kentucky Derby here : LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The best way to understand a race is to envision how it will be run. I have decided that Goldencents is fast enough to clear Saturday's Kentucky Derby field in the first few hundred yards, set moderate fractions and be in front from start to finish. Whenever you can find a quality horse that possesses an attribute that is different from the other logical contenders, you have a live play.

The list of horses that will not run in Saturday's 117th Kentucky Derby reads like a racetrack Who's Who. Dinard, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and the Derby co-favorite, is lame and out. Cahill Road, the Wood Memorial winner, lame and out. Meadow Star, the 2-year-old filly champion, defected to Friday's Kentucky Oaks. Richman, winner of the Louisiana Derby, out. Tank, the Garden State Stakes winner, out. Queen's Gray Bee, the Remington Park champion, out. Wall Street Dancer, out. Shotgun Harry J., out. Shoot To Kill, Link, Vouch For Me, all out. By Wednesday, the prospects for America's favorite horse race were down to 14, for one reason or another, and it appeared the field might shrink to the smallest in recent years.

Hay Halo, a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Broad Brush, will head a probable field of at least 10 3-year-olds for Garden State Park's Cherry Hill Mile on Saturday. The Cherry Hill is the first step on the Garden State's road to the Kentucky Derby, a path that Spend a Buck successfully traveled two years ago. The second race of the pre-Derby series is the 1 1/8-mile Garden State Stakes on April 18. The Cherry Hill also will be one of the components of the first "Super Saturday" for 3-year-olds gunning toward the 113th run for the roses on May 2. In addition to the Cherry Hill, the Gotham Stakes will be run at Aqueduct Racetrack, the Florida Derby will be at Gulfstream Park, and the Santa Anita Derby will be staged at Santa Anita Park.

When motion picture producer Albert Broccoli paid $215,000 for a 2-year-old colt named Anytime Chris last March, he decided he didn't like the name. He sent the horse to trainer Randy Winick at Santa Anita and began thinking of new ones. "When Randy asked me what I was going to name the horse, I told him Brocco, and he said to me, 'What kind of a name is that?' " Broccoli said, smiling, with Winick sitting at his side. Brocco, Broccoli. Get it, Randy? Winick winced and turned beet red. "Whatever he says I said, I guess I said.