Wide open. That is the best way to describe the 2008 Travers. Twelve horses. None of them with credentials to suggest they deserve to be anything but "under consideration" for winning the Mid-Summer Derby. Pyro being installed as the tepid 7-2 morning line favorite underscores the uncertainty of the...

Well, we are finally here. Time to make Derby selections. Considering the inconsistency of many of the top 3-year-olds, inexperience of some of the contenders (mainly Big Brown), and trying to decipher how these synthetic track horses will run on the Churchill dirt, this year's handicapping challenge...

11:10 a.m. Pill Popping The best drama in Louisville today takes place in the racing office on the backside at Churchill Downs. It’s the pill pull to see what order post positions will be drawn later this afternoon in the made-for-television post position show on ESPN. A few minutes after 11 o’clock...

Noon Street Party Between the paddock and the Paddock Pavilion, there’s a “Street” party going. Signing copies of the book “Kentucky Derby” are jockey Calvin Borel , trainer Carl Nafzger , and breeder/owner James Tafel . The team won last year’s Kentucky Derby with Street Sense . Also with them is Churchill...

With less than four weeks left until Derby day, and only a couple of important preps remaining, things are finally beginning to take shape. What did we learn last weekend? Well, for one, Colonel John is legit. The son of Tiznow quieted all those who claimed El Gato Malo would have won the Sham had it...