KENTUCKY DERBY AT A GLANCE

1 SONGANDAPRAYER

Odds: 20-1

Jockey: Aaron Gryder

Trainer: John Dowd

Owner: Devil Eleven and DJ stables

Record: 6 starts, 3 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd

Earnings: $369,480

Sire: Unbridled’s Song (Unbridled)

Dam: Allzea (Premiership)

COMMENT: Owned in a partnership that includes former Duke basketball star Bobby Hurley, Songandaprayer is not considered a 1 1/4-mile horse. He won the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park but was a fading fifth in the Florida Derby. After that, Songandaprayer was second, but beaten by 5 1/4 lengths, against Millennium Wind in the Blue Grass at Keeneland. Edgar Prado rode Songandaprayer in his last three starts, but has opted for Thunder Blitz in Derby.

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2 MILLENNIUM WIND

Odds: 6-1

Jockey: Laffit Pincay

Trainer: David Hofmans

Owner: David, Jill Heerensperger

Record: 5 starts, 3-2-0

Earnings: $769,920

Sire: Cryptoclearance (Fappiano)

Dam: Ball Babe (Drone)

COMMENT: Eight of the 17 Derby horses were sold at public auction, and one of the most expensive was Millennium Wind, who cost $1.2 million as a yearling. His trainer, David Hofmans, has never had a Derby starter, but has been known to beat major horses in marquee races. He saddled Alphabet Soup for his defeat of Cigar in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and his Touch Gold thwarted Silver Charm’s Triple Crown bid by winning the Belmont Stakes in 1997.

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3 BALTO STAR

Odds: 8-1

Jockey: Mark Guidry

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owner: Anstu Stables

Record: 8 starts, 4-0-1

Earnings: $720,190

Sire: Glitterman (Dewan)

Dam: Miss Livi (Devil’s Bag)

COMMENT:Trainer Todd Pletcher, a former Wayne Lukas assistant, has adopted his mentor’s penchant for trying to gang up on the Derby. Pletcher ran four horses last year in his first Derby, and this year he has Balto Star and Invisible Ink. The pace-setting role today has pretty much been conceded to Balto Star, a gelding whose four wins have come by a total of 40 1/2 lengths. He’s on a three-race win streak, but no gelding has won the Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.

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4 THUNDER BLITZ

Odds: 30-1

Jockey: Edgar Prado

Trainer: Joseph Orseno

Owner: Stronach Stable

Record: 8 starts, 2-2-2

Earnings: $198,450

Sire: Holy Bull (Great Above)

Dam: Rasant (Assert)

COMMENT: This gray colt--younger than the other 16 starters because he was foaled in May--won only one of seven starts before a convincing win in the Flamingo at Hialeah on April 7. Bred and owned by Frank Stronach, Thunder Blitz is trained by Joe Orseno, whose Red Bullet defeated last year’s Derby winner, Fusaichi Pegasus, in the Preakness. “Because he’s such a late foal, he was immature in a lot of ways,” Orseno said. “But he started to grow up in Florida.”

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5 FIFTY STARS

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Donnie Meche

Trainer: Steve Asmussen

Owner: James Cassels, Bob Zollars

Record: 8 starts, 3-2-0

Earnings: $676,210

Sire: Quiet American (Fappiano)

Dam: My Bubbling Belle (Tsunami Slew)

COMMENT: Donnie Meche, who has ridden Fifty Stars in all eight of his races, is making his Derby debut. Meche, who rides in his native Louisiana, is 26, 10 minutes younger than twin brother Lonnie, also a jockey. Fifty Stars beat a tiring Millennium Wind by two lengths in the Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds, then ran second to Percy Hope in the Lone Star Derby in Texas. Percy Hope, skipping the Derby, will run in the Preakness.

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6 EXPRESS TOUR

Odds: 15-1

Jockey: David Flores

Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

Owner: Godolphin Racing Inc.

Record: 5 starts, 4-1-0

Earnings: $1,613,515

Sire: Tour d’Or (Medaille d’Or)

Dam: Express Fashion (Private Express)

COMMENT: There are only two horses in the field not bred in Kentucky--this Florida-bred and California-bred Jamaican Rum. Express Tour started his career at Calder Race Course in Florida, winning three stakes restricted to state-breds, before Sheik Mohammed, the crown prince of Dubai, bought him privately at the end of last year. In Dubai, Express Tour beat highly touted stablemate Street Cry in the United Arab Emirates Derby on March 24.

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7 ARCTIC BOY

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Calvin Borel

Trainer: Tony Richey

Owner: Allen Paulsen Living Trust

Record: 7 starts, 1-2-1

Earnings: $56,945

Sire: Maria’s Mon (Wavering Monarch)

Dam: Al Nasr Star (Al Nasr)

COMMENT: Can the Arkansas Derby’s last-place finisher, beaten by 17 lengths, find happiness at the Derby? That’s the big question facing Arctic Boy and his trainer, Tony Richey, who is throwing out the Oaklawn Park race because it was run over a muddy track. Arctic Boy took four races before he broke his maiden at Oaklawn on Feb. 2. That’s the only time Calvin Borel, his Derby rider, has ridden him.

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8 CONGAREE

Odds: 5-1

Jockey: Victor Espinoza

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Owner: Stonerside Stable

Record: 4 starts, 3-0-0

Earnings: $512,400

Sire: Arazi (Blushing Groom)

Dam: Mari’s Sheba (Mari’s Book)

COMMENT: Horses with only four career starts aren’t supposed to win the Derby. The last winning horse to be so lightly raced was Exterminator in 1918. The stunning thing about Exterminator is that all his pre-Derby races came as a 2-year-old. after a 10-month layoff. Congaree ran once at 2, suffering his only loss, and after knee surgery he has come back this year to win three in a row by 15 3/4 lengths. This is jockey Victor Espinoza’s first Derby mount.

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9 A P VALENTINE

Odds: 15-1

Jockey: Corey Nakatani

Trainer: Nick Zito

Owner: Ol Memorial Stable, M. Tabor

Record: 7 starts, 3-0-2

Earnings: $368,170

Sire: A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew)

Dam: Twenty Eight Carat (Alydar)

COMMENT: For trainer Nick Zito to win his third Derby, this son of A.P. Indy will have to vastly improve off his 13-length defeat--a fifth-place finish--in the Blue Grass. A P Valentine was the favorite at Churchill in November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but ran last and injured his shins--putting him behind in training early this year. New Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is the co-owner and the jockey is Corey Nakatani, winless in eight Kentucky derbies.

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10 DOLLAR BILL

Odds: 10-1

Jockey: Pat Day

Trainer: Dallas Stewart

Owner: Gary and Mary West

Record: 8 starts, 3-2-1

Earnings: $453,696

Sire: Peaks And Valleys (Mt. Livermore)

Dam: Saratoga Dame (Saratoga Six)

COMMENT: Wayne Lukas, a fixture at the Derby, is missing the race for the first time in 21 years, but two of his former assistants are running horses. Besides Todd Pletcher’s pair, there’s Dollar Bill trained by Dallas Stewart. The early money bet Friday actually favored Dollar Bill at 3-1. One reason might be the presence of Kentucky’s favorite-son jockey Pat Day. Dollar Bill also won an allowance race at Churchill Downs.

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11 TALK IS MONEY

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Jerry Bailey

Trainer: John Scanlan

Owner: Daniel Borislow

Record: 6 starts, 2-1-1

Earnings: $104,110

Sire: Deputy Minister (Vice Regent)

Dam: Isle Go West (Gone West)

COMMENT: Talk Is Money’s earnings are the lowest in the Derby field. Since winning his first two starts, Talk Is Money has lost four in a row, but at least he’s improving--a 10th-place finish, then an eighth, third and second. In two of Florida’s races for 3-year-olds, Talk Is Money was beaten by almost 30 lengths. Jerry Bailey will ride him for the first time. “Having Bailey makes him 10 lengths better right away,” trainer John Scanlan said. Talk Is Money will need more than that.

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12 STARTAC

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Alex Solis

Trainer: Simon Bray

Owner: Royce Roberts

Record: 7 starts, 3-2-1

Earnings: $285,193

Sire: Theatrical (Nureyev)

Dam: Tenga (Mr. Prospector)

COMMENT: An afterthought--and probably not trainer Simon Bray’s according to backstretch scuttlebutt--as a Derby starter. His win in the Turf Paradise Derby was negated by poor finishes in two subsequent races in Northern California. “The owners expressed an interest in the Derby,” Bray said. “Like everybody says, there’s only one Derby, so we thought we’d take a chance.” Startac was the last Derby starter on the grounds, arriving from California on Monday.

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13 INVISIBLE INK

Odds: 30-1

Jockey: John Velazquez

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owner: Peachtree Stable

Record: 7 starts, 3-1-1

Earnings: $215,560

Sire: Thunder Gulch (Gulch)

Dam: Conquistress (Conquistador Cielo)

COMMENT: After Invisible Ink left the allowance ranks, he ran third--seven lengths out--in the Florida Derby, and was beaten by 8 1/2 while finishing fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes. No non-stakes winner has won the Kentucky Derby since Alysheba in 1987. With Todd Pletcher’s other horse, Balto Star, the probable pacesetter, jockey John Velazquez will probably try to position Invisible Ink in the middle of the pack.

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14 KEATS

Odds: 30-1

Jockey: Larry Melancon

Trainer: Niall O’Callaghan

Owner: Henry Pabst

Record: 7 starts, 3-1-1

Earnings: $283,871

Sire: Hennessy (Storm Cat)

Dam: Alaska Queen (Time for a Change)

COMMENT: Owner Henry Pabst and trainer Niall O’Callahan waited until the last minute before committing Keats to the race. Keats started his career in Ireland and since coming to the U.S. in the fall has run four times on four different tracks, including a third-place finish at Churchill Downs. In his last start, Larry Melancon rode Keats to a 3/4-length win in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. Keats has early speed, but would appear to have distance limitations.

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15 JAMAICAN RUM

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Eddie Delahoussaye

Trainer: James Cassidy

Owner: Southern Nevada Racing

Record: 8 starts, 2-2-1

Earnings: $287,085

Sire: Exemplary Leader (Vigors)

Dam: Little Ricky S. (Runaway Groom)

COMMENT: Only three California-breds have won the Derby--Decidedly (1962), Swaps (1955) and Morvich (1922). Jamaican Rum finished third behind Point Given and I Love Silver in the San Felipe at Santa Anita, then second to Balto Star in the Arkansas Derby. Trainer Jim Cassidy said he expected his colt to be last in the early going. That’s the way Eddie Delahoussaye rode Gato Del Sol to victory in the 1982 Derby, and Delahoussaye is riding Jamaican Rum.

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16 MONARCHOS

Odds: 6-1

Jockey: Jorge Chavez

Trainer: John Ward Jr.

Owner: John Oxley

Record: 6 starts, 3-1-1

Earnings: $793,630

Sire: Maria’s Mon (Wavering Monarch)

Dam: Regal Band (Dixieland Band)

COMMENT: After winning the Florida Derby, he was second--coming from far back--in Congaree’s Wood Memorial victory. The knock on Monarchos is that all three of his victories have come at Gulfstream Park. As a maiden, Monarchos ran third in a Churchill Downs sprint in November. John Ward, who trains Monarchos, is the only Kentucky-born trainer with a horse in the race. “I’m the only hardboot,” he said. “And I’m as Kentucky as the bluegrass.”

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17 POINT GIVEN

Odds: 9-5

Jockey: Gary Stevens

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Owner: The Thoroughbred Corp.

Record: 8 starts, 5-3-0

Earnings: $1,218,500

Sire: Thunder Gulch (Gulch)

Dam: Turko’s Turn (Turkoman)

COMMENT: Prince Ahmed Salman’s son of 1995 Derby winner Thunder Gulch is likely to go off the heaviest favorite since Arazi’s flop at 9-10 in 1992. Point Given overwhelmed his opposition this winter at Santa Anita, winning the San Felipe by 2 1/4 lengths and running 11/8 miles in 1:47 3/5 while winning the Santa Anita Derby by 5 1/2. The last son of a Derby winner to win the race was Grindstone in 1996. He was sired by Unbridled, the 1990 winner.