He's got a couple of races under his belt, he's training dynamite, he looks good, he feels good. We've got no excuses. I feel good about it. Right distance, right spot, right track. He's perfect. He's as right as I can get him right now.

He's training well, we'll give it a shot. He likes it hard and fast, so it'll probably be wet and soft.

I don't know if we even belong with these horses, but you sure hope you do.

But he hasn't missed a lick in his training since getting down here in November, and it doesn't seem like he's lost a step in the morning. I don't know if he's still a Grade 1 horse or not, but if everything goes well Saturday we'll give him a shot at the Donn and see what happens.

I'm just happy he showed some life this time. The biggest thing is that he proved he could still run hard from the start and finish strong.

I have some ideas why he didn't run very well, but I don't want to speculate.

It was probably too much pressure on him. I wish I had a more definitive answer. Maybe he's just not as good as he was.

It was only his second start since July, and he had to fight hard. I'd have rather seen him not get hit and win by five, but I'm happy.

This is going to be a big jump for him. I usually don't like to do this sort of thing, but he's got such a good psyche about him. He does things with such ease. Mentally, it's like he's done it 100 times.

Probably good judgment and good sense would say not to run, but there is only one Kentucky Derby.