By Josh Cook
Saturday's Run for the Roses is expected to be very wet, and if that is the case it will likely be wide-open too.
Here is a quick glance at what each of the contenders (along with their updated odds) in the 136th Kentucky Derby, which could be a very rainy and muddy, did the day before the big race:
Super Saver (7-1), Devil May Care (10-1), Mission Impazible (24-1) & Discreetly Mine (41-1) - Trainer Todd Pletcher's quartet, a.k.a. the "Todd Squad," each worked 1 1/4 miles Friday morning.
"There's not much you can do (about the weather), so I just let it be," Pletcher said. "My horses have done well enough (on 'off' tracks) that I think they'll do all right if it comes to it."
Lookin At Lucky (9-1) & Conveyance (25-1) - Both of Bob Baffert's horses galloped in the morning.
"Any time he track gets (muddy) every longshot has a chance," Baffert said. "The trip is some important. The gray horse (Conveyance) won't be eating any mud, he'll be gone. Then you've got Garrett on Lucky, (and) I don't know what they're going to do."
Ice Box (11-1) & Jackson Bend (22-1) - Trainer Nick Zito had his horses gallop 1 1/2 miles Friday morning.
"You want a fast track (Saturday), that's all both these horses have run on," Zito said. "I don't have any barometer to tell. They've practiced enough on it, but it's still not the race. You just don't know. I'm positive that they'll like it, but you don't know."
Paddy O'Prado (11-1) - The Grade I Blue Grass Stakes runner-up, who is owned by Donegal Racing, galloped 1 1/2 miles Friday morning. Jerry Crawford, the head of Donegal Racing, suffered a heart attack three years ago at Churchill Downs on Derby week. This year, though, things appear to be going well for he and his horse.
"We're hoping things go a lot smoother this year," Crawford said. "(Jockey) Kent Desormeaux said the word for the week for Paddy O'Prado and me is 'suave.' Let's hope he's right."
Sidney's Candy (11-1) & Line of David (15-1) - Trainer John Sadler had his pair of horses out for a gallop of about 1 1/2 miles early Friday morning.
"We're all good," Sadler said. "I'd like to put them back out on the track tomorrow morning for a jog, but I don't know with the weather. If it is pouring rain and the track is soaked, they probably won't go."
Awesome Act (14-1) - The English import galloped 1 1/4 miles Friday morning.
Stately Victor (15-1) & Dean's Kitten (18-1) - Trainer Mike Maker's horses galloped 1 1/4 miles at 5:45 a.m. Friday.
"Everything went perfect and we're ready to go," said Maker, who has maintained all week that a wet track would help the chances of his pair of horses.
Homeboykris (17-1) - The Grade I Champagne Stakes winner, who Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre owns a 10-percent share in, jogged a mile Friday morning.
"I'm just hoping for a good trip, just like everyone else," trainer Rick Dutrow said. "(But) I don't know if we'll get one from (the No. 19 post position). He's got plenty of speed. So we need him to break good and fall into saving-ground position going into the first turn."
Backtalk (21-1) - The son of Smarty Jones galloped 1 1/4 miles Friday morning.
"He was very good this morning and we're ready to go for tomorrow," GoldMark Farm general manager of racing Todd Quast said.
Dublin (21-1) - D. Wayne Lukas' horse galloped 1 5/8 miles Friday morning.
"We had one work where it was a little bit wet," Lukas said. "We did gallop him over it, but he did that well. So does, I'm sure, all the other 19 horses too. You really don't know...Going a mile and a quarter with mud coming back, he wears blinkers, that's not an ideal situation for me. I don't really look forward to it.
"(But) I really don't know what he'll do. We obviously will lead him over there in the mud, or on crushed glass. We're going to show up and we'll see what happens."
Noble's Promise (21-1) - The horse who will start from the No. 3 post position finished his Derby training Friday morning by galloping 1 3/4 miles.
"We back-tracked around and then (trainer) Kenny (McPeek) wanted me to let him break away for a quick few strides from the quarter-pole to simulate the start," exercise rider Walter Blum Jr. said. "If you're one of the inside four horses you have to be careful inside with the way the rail sits in regard to the gate."
American Lion (24-1) - The Illinois Derby winner, who will start from the No. 7 gate, galloped Friday morning and will walk early Saturday morning.
"He trained and he worked on a muddy track," trainer Eoin Harty said. "I don't think it's going to be any comparison what the track is going to be like if they get the rain that everybody is calling for. But we're here, we're going to run and we'll find out."
Make Music For Me (25-1) - Trainer Alexis Barba's horse, the last entry in the Derby field, schooled in the starting gate before galloping 1 1/2 miles Friday morning.
