ATSWHATIMTALKNBOUT - B. Wayne Hughes and Biscuit Stables' Atswhatimtalknbout worked a mile in 1:41 2/5 after the renovation break over a track labeled fast with exercise rider Raul Vizcarrando up. Fractions for the work were :13 3/5, :26 2/5, :39 2/5, :52 1/5, 1:05, 1:17 2/5, 1:29 and 1:41 2/5. "I wanted him to go between 1:40 and 1:42," trainer Ron Ellis said. "With the rain (from Sunday night's thunderstorm) it is hard to tell if the track is fast or slow. He went 1:41 and 2 , which is right in that range, but he went the last half good. I had the first half in 52 and 49 and 2 the last half and I was looking for the last half to be better than the first. He galloped out in the same time (1:56 1/5) that Affirmed worked in (prior to the 1978 Derby)." Atswhatimtalknbout was outfitted in a shadow roll, but did not have the blinkers that he wore in his first work at Churchill Downs, a :49 3/5 half-mile move on April 16. "If the blinkers are going to help him, they will when he is in company," Ellis said. "He has a tendency to pay attention to other horses. I could tell the other day the way he worked that they are not going to help him at all when he is by himself. I like the way he went today better than the other day. "I think the other day, it was his first time in blinkers, and he was a little off. He was a lot more comfortable out there today." Atswhatimtalknbout will walk Tuesday and then return to the track Wednesday with paddock schooling sessions slated for Saturday and next Wednesday. Ellis said the colt's final Derby work would be early next week. "It will be something quicker, maybe six days or so," Ellis said. "He will go five-eighths and gallop out a good three-quarters in company. Wayne (owner B. Wayne Hughes) has some other horses with (trainer) Al Stall that we can use." Would Atswhatimtalknbout work in blinkers next week? "He might. I just want to see how he responds in them," Ellis said. "I don't know if David (Flores) will be here or not, but I have had a couple of jocks who have offered to work him, so I will probably let a jock work him the next time. But I probably will work with blinkers and then decide after that if I think they will help him. "I'm not 100 percent sold on the blinkers. If I do, maybe I will cut them back like they do over there," Ellis said, pointing to Barn 43 that houses Kentucky Derby favorite Empire Maker. "I didn't want to mess with them today, because I know what he will do without them. I did not want to be experimenting today. I won't put them on (in the Derby) unless I feel they will absolutely help him."

BRANCUSI - Michael Tabor's Brancusi walked the shedrow at trainer Patrick Biancone's barn at Keeneland on Monday morning, a day after working five furlongs in :59 at the Lexington track. "He is perfect this morning," Biancone said. "Depending on the weather, we will come over there to work Friday or Saturday." Biancone plans to return to Keeneland after the work and then return to Churchill Downs the day before Derby 129.

BUDDY GIL - Desperado Stable's Buddy Gil, winner of the Santa Anita Derby (GI), turned in a sharp six-furlong work on Monday at Churchill Downs that cleared the only apparent obstacle to his participation in Kentucky Derby 129. The gelded son of Eastern Echo breezed six furlongs in a swift 1:11.80 under jockey Gary Stevens, who will ride the Buddy Gil in the Derby for trainer Jeff Mullins. The move was the fastest of seven at the distance - a roster of works that included a work by 2002 Kentucky Derby runner-up Proud Citizen, who covered the same distance "handily" in 1:12.30 in a move that was the day's second-best effort. But more important was the internal five-furlong fraction of :59.60, which essentially cleared the way for Buddy Gil to run in the Derby. He had been placed on the bleeders list in California after blood was discovered in his nostrils after the Santa Anita Derby. He remained on that list for 14 days and, under California rules of racing, had to work five furlongs in at least 1:03 without a recurrence of bleeding to be allowed to race in the Derby. Buddy Gil easily achieved the required time for five furlongs and then Dr. Ben Baker, a Kentucky state veterinarian, delivered the news that Stevens and Mullins had hoped to hear. "He ran fast enough," said Baker. "He didn't bleed and he didn't cough." "I wasn't worried about it," said Mullins. "The bleeding wasn't as bad as everybody made it sound. I don't think the horse actually bled in the race. I think he bled when he went into that coughing spell when he took all the dirt and ruptured something, because there was no blood deep - it was all upper respiratory. So I think he ruptured a vessel or something." Buddy Gil was timed by Churchill Downs clockers in :11.80, :23.60, :35.20, :47.40 and :59.60 and galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.80. "That's what he does," said Stevens. "I had no idea what he worked him in, but I knew he was probably going to go faster than most - that's just him. He just drags me around and I basically sit still on him and let him gallop out a little bit after his work to make sure he gets something out of it." "When I come back and there's a smile on Gary Stevens' face, that's good enough for me," Mullins said. "I don't care how fast he went." Mullins, who participated in his first Kentucky Derby when he saddled Lusty Latin to finish 15th in an 18-horse field, declined an opportunity to discuss the merits of other members of the prospective Derby field. He said Buddy Gil would remain his sole focus. "I'm not going to worry about anybody else but my own, I think," he said. "We've got a horse that really don't make any mistakes. Gary's got an awful lot of confidence in him and when a guy like Gary Stevens has got confidence in you, you've got to feel pretty good."

EMPIRE MAKER/PEACE RULES - Trainer Bobby Frankel's powerful Kentucky Derby duo of Juddmonte Farm's Empire Maker and Edmund Gann's Peace Rules were on the track shortly after dawn for their Monday training activity. Empire Maker galloped 1 3/8 miles over a "fast" track with Jose Cuevas in the saddle while Peace Rules galloped the same distance under Antonio Graell. Frankel said the horses would put in their final pre-Derby works over the weekend. "If everything goes perfect, probably Sunday," said Frankel. "Maybe Peace Rules on Saturday, because he's a little more aggressive. The other one (Empire Maker) will work in company and Peace Rules will work by himself. I going to let them pick up their gallop tomorrow a little bit and then give them day off the next day. They're good horses, so I don't want to overdo it, you know?" Empire Maker worked with the 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro, winner of the Strub (GII) and Oaklawn Handicap (GI) in Southern California. Frankel said his workmate at Churchill Downs would likely be Juddmonte's 4-year-old Requete, who is scheduled to run in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) on Derby Day.

EYE OF THE TIGER - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said no decision has been made on the Kentucky Derby status of John D. Gunther's Coolmore Lexington runner-up Eye of the Tiger - but he said the son of American Chance would ship to Churchill Downs from Keeneland later in the week with other members of his stable. "We want to bring him up there and train him a little bit," Hollendorfer said by telephone from California. "We'll see what happens." Eye of the Tiger has a career record of 2-1-2 in five races.

FUND OF FUNDS - "All systems are go," trainer Richard Violette reported from Aqueduct after his Illinois Derby runner-up galloped Monday morning. Fund Of Funds worked a half-mile in :48, second fastest of 13 at the distance last Wednesday at Aqueduct, a move that Violette said "put us ahead of the game and gave me a couple days to play with. There is some rain forecast to move in here and I could work any of the next three days, but I am leaning toward Thursday." Fund Of Funds is scheduled to ship to Louisville on April 30.

FUNNY CIDE - Sackatoga Stable's Funny Cide galloped Monday morning at Belmont Park under assistant trainer Robin Smullen. "They are forecasting a lot of rain tomorrow and I am planning to breeze him a half-mile if the track is safe," trainer Barclay Tagg said. "I want to breeze tomorrow and then next Tuesday and ship Wednesday."

INDIAN EXPRESS/KAFWAIN/SENOR SWINGER - Santa Anita Derby 2-3 finishers Indian Express and Kafwain galloped Monday morning and trainer Bob Baffert plans to work them both on Wednesday. Senor Swinger, who is also nominated to the Crown Royal American Turf to be run May 2, is scheduled to work on the turf Tuesday morning.

MOST FEARED - Trainer Ronny Werner said the Kentucky Derby hopes for Tom Durant's Most Feared were gone by the half-mile pole as he watched the Texas-bred gelding steadily lose ground in Sunday's Coolmore Lexington (GII) at Keeneland. Werner, speaking by telephone from Lone Star Park in Texas, said Most Feared appeared to have come out of his listless sixth-place finish behind the victorious Scrimshaw in good shape. But the race was a huge disappointment for Werner, who had seen his Texas-bred gelding train beautifully in preparation for the Coolmore Lexington, which was his first race since Feb. 15. Werner said Most Feared appeared to be jostled in traffic heading into the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile race, but he saw no other problems during the race to account for the effort. "He went to the half-mile pole and just had nothing - it's one of those head-scratchers," said Werner. "He took a shot or gave a shot in the first turn, I don't know because I didn't get to see the replay afterwards. But he got tangled up a little bit and if he took a good enough shot, that might help explain it. But I just know that he galloped in and it's a shame. He just worked super strong over there (at Churchill Downs) and he just stunk it up. He just galloped in and it was ridiculous - he ran about a half-a-mile. He wasn't even blowing when he came back." Werner said he would continue to watch Most Feared closely over the next few days for signs of any physical problems. If he concludes that Most Feared is sound and his problems may be mental, there would likely be some time off in the gelding's near future. "Works are just way different from a race," said Werner. "You've got to show up race day and he didn't. We've got to pull our horns in on him and see where we want to go. We may want to go in an allowance race, but if he doesn't come out of this we may want to turn him out and let him forget about everything."

OFFLEE WILD - Azalea Stable's winner of the Holy Bull (GIII) galloped 1 ½ miles under exercise rider Rob Smith after the son of Wild Again took Easter Sunday off and walked under his shedrow. Trainer T.V. Smith said Offlee Wild would work on Tuesday with Kentucky Derby jockey Robby Albarado in the saddle. Offlee Wild is expected to work just after the break for track maintenance.

OUTTA HERE - Bill Currin and Al Eisman's Outta Here galloped a mile and half Monday morning at Hollywood Park with exercise rider Pat Seeley up. Outta Here is scheduled to work five furlongs Thursday at Hollywood Park and ship to Louisville on Sunday the 27th.

SCRIMSHAW - Bob and Beverly Lewis' Scrimshaw walked the shedrow Monday morning. The Coolmore Lexington winner is scheduled to return to the track Wednesday. No rider has been confirmed for Scrimshaw, who was ridden in the Lexington by Edgar Prado, whose Derby mount is Peace Rules. "There is a pretty deep talent pool to choose from this late in the game," four-time Derby winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.

SIR CHEROKEE - Domino Stud's Sir Cherokee galloped a mile and a half at Trackside Training Center with exercise rider D.W. Fries up. Trainer Michael Tomlinson said he is considering bringing Sir Cherokee to gallop at Churchill Downs either Thursday or Friday with the colt's pre-Derby work slated for Tuesday, April 29 at Trackside.

TEN MOST WANTED - Illinois Derby winner Ten Most Wanted galloped a mile and a quarter after the renovation break under exercise rider Andy Durnin. Trainer Wally Dollase is scheduled to arrive in Louisville Tuesday afternoon and Ten Most Wanted is scheduled to work six furlongs Wednesday after the renovation break.

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