ATSWHATIMTALKNBOUT - Trainer Ron Ellis led his Kentucky Derby charge Atswhatimtalknbout from Barn 41 to the six-furlong gap Friday morning at 7:10 for his colt's last bit of serious leg stretching prior to his start in the 129th running of the Run for the Roses. Regular exercise rider Raul Vizcarrando stood with the A.P. Indy colt and Ellis in the center of the gap for several minutes before setting off for a mile and one-half tour of the big Churchill Downs oval. "Ats" was clean-headed for the exercise, despite the fact he'll go to the post with a "blinkers on" notation next to his name in the program Saturday. "He wore his blinkers yesterday because he went to the gate," Ellis noted. "Today we just wanted to let him take it all in. It's not going to matter all that much." Ellis will fit his runner with what he refers to as "French cup blinkers," an abbreviated version of "half blinkers," which are an abbreviated version of full blinkers. The trainer said he expected several of his "Hollywood connection" owners for today's races at Churchill and then the full celebrity crew on board for Derby Day. Atswhatimtalknbout will break from Post 4 with David Flores on board.

BRANCUSI - The Blue Grass Stakes runner-up got his first look at the Churchill Downs track today, and his exuberant French trainer Patrick Biancone said, "He took possession of the track." The Deputy Commander colt jogged, then went to the paddock and walked for 15 minutes, jogged 1 ¼ miles the right way and walked once around the track. "He's good," Biancone said. "He's a nice colt."

BUDDY GIL - With exercise rider Amy Mullins up, Santa Anita Derby winner Buddy Gil jogged three-quarters of a mile and then visited the starting gate before galloping a mile and a half shortly before 7 a.m. It was Buddy Gil's second straight day to visit the gate and "he did a lot better today," trainer Jeff Mullins said. Buddy Gil will represent Mullins' second Derby starter, the first being Lusty Latin, who finished 15th last year behind War Emblem. Mullins was asked what the key would be to Buddy Gil extending his winning streak to four. "A lot of luck," Mullins said. Gary Stevens, seeking his fourth Kentucky Derby win and first since Silver Charm in 1997, has the mount.

DOMESTIC DISPUTE - New owners Chuck Winner and David Bienstock, neighbors in Beverly Hills, were on the scene at Churchill Downs Friday morning to watch their recent purchase, Domestic Dispute, go through his final preparations for the Kentucky Derby 36 hours away. The Unbridled's Song colt, winner of Santa Anita's Santa Catalina Stakes and $280,687, galloped about a mile under exercise-rider Joe Deegan at 6 a.m., then was set down at the eighth pole for a two-furlong blowout through the stretch. "I didn't time him, but just looking at him go I'd guess he went somewhere between 25 and 26 seconds," said trainer Patrick Gallagher. "We're real happy with his preparations." Domestic Dispute will start from Post 11 in Derby 129 with Alex Solis on his back.

EMPIRE MAKER/PEACE RULES - "He's making a soap opera of it. The drama rises!" Trainer Robert Frankel was having a chuckle about his horse Empire Maker, who just happens to be the favorite for the 129th Kentucky Derby and also the star of a weeklong cliff hanger about his health and attitude that has livened up a Derby week that otherwise has been mostly mellow. The latest cause for Empire Maker Fever came Friday morning when Frankel put him on the track under exercise rider Jose Cuevas at 6:45 for a planned gallop of a bit more than a mile and one quarter. At the same time stablemate Peace Rules also headed out with exercise rider Antonio Graell up. Empire Maker was partnered by a stable pony coming through the six-furlong gap and the pair headed down the backstretch in good order with Cuevas quickly cutting loose and galloping strongly on his own all the way around the big strip. But when Empire Maker came past the gap the second time he suddenly hung a hard, nearly sideways right, causing Cuevas to pull tight on the reins as they just about slid all the way across the track to the outside rail. There an outrider on a pony grabbed the colt and straightened him away before turning him over to his original pony rider. From that point Cuevas finished the gallop around the oval and returned to Barn 43. "He does that when he's fresh," Cuevas offered later back at the barn. "He did the same thing in Florida. He's just feeling good." Frankel, too, noted that the son of Unbridled and the blue hen broodmare Toussaud had pulled a similar stunt the day before the Florida Derby. "But in Florida," the conditioner said, "nobody was around to see it or make a big deal of it. Here we have all this Kentucky Derby stuff going on and it becomes part of the drama. "It is documented; everything out of that mare pulls stunts. She pulled stunts and so do all her kids." Meanwhile, Peace Rules merely jogged a mile around the racetrack and nobody noticed at all. In his daily press session following the close of training at 8 o'clock on Kentucky Oaks morning, Frankel merely rolled with the punches concerning his big horse and expressed full confidence in him for Saturday's classic. "He pulled one of his acts," the trainer said. "But it's not a big deal, believe me. The whole family does it. Bet against him at your own risk. He's going to run a big race." When asked about his colt's right front foot, which he'd bruised in winning the Wood Memorial in New York April 12 and had been the subject of much talk and concern at Churchill Downs this week, the Brooklyn-born trainer used his best New Yorkese to state emphatically: "Forget about it. The foot is not an issue. His foot is fine. It is healed. In fact, I might even run him in a full shoe (instead of the three-quarter horse shoe he had put on him to ease pressure on the bruise.) I'll look at it in the morning and decide. But the foot is no longer an issue. Soundness will not be an issue. "I believe the script is already written. I think he's meant to win. They just don't want me to have an easy time of it here this week, so all this other stuff has been going on. But he's going to run good and I think he'll win it." Frankel will give rider Jerry Bailey a leg up on Empire Maker Saturday and they'll break from Post 12. Edgar Prado has the mount on Peace Rules from Post 5.

EYE OF THE TIGER - John Gunther's homebred colt Eye Of The Tiger went trackside Friday morning at 6:45 with assistant trainer Art Calva aboard and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. "He's doing well," the Northern California- based trainer stated. "He's doing real well. He paddocked good yesterday and everything is going right." Hollendorfer and his rider, Eibar Coa, will be getting their first taste of Derby action Saturday. They drew Post 13 in what now will be a field of 16.

FUNNY CIDE - The Wood Memorial runner-up jogged and cantered two miles the wrong way today. "He's doing great. Everything's going very smoothly. I'm very pleased," trainer Barclay Tagg said. Nevertheless, Tagg said he was trying not to get too high. "I've had a lot of disappointments in this life. I don't like to let myself get too excited," he said. "I'm happy to have a nice horse, and I'm happy to be in the Kentucky Derby. But it seems like in this business every day something goes wrong so I try not to let myself get too high or too low."

INDIAN EXPRESS - Santa Anita Derby runner-up Indian Express was on the racetrack at Churchill Downs Friday morning at approximately 7:15 for a leg-stretching session prior to his date in the Kentucky Derby Saturday afternoon. The quick, bay colt by the young stallion Indian Charlie had exercise rider Mick Jenner aboard as they galloped about a mile and one half, according to assistant trainer Jim Barnes. "Not too strong a gallop," noted Barnes. "Just a good one. All the work is done now." The Utah-bred, owned by former recording mogul Phil Chess and trained by three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert, is scheduled for "something light" in the way of exercise Derby morning, according to Barnes. Indian Express will break from Post 9 and be the first Derby mount for young rider Tyler Baze.

LONE STAR SKY - Buddy New's Lone Star Sky completed his Kentucky Derby preparations Friday morning by galloping a mile and a half under exercise rider Kathy Sanchez shortly before 6 o'clock. "He won't go to the track in the morning," said trainer Tom Amoss, who will be saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter. Shane Sellers has the mount Saturday. Amoss was asked what the key would be to success for Lone Star Sky in Derby 129. "I am convinced he is going to run his best race," Amoss said. "As far as to what has to happen, I would say all the things that have happened so far. He has trained well, showed enthusiasm and he has a healthy look to him. He also has to have something that is kind of hard to describe and that is kind of the eye of the tiger. "The most important question is does his best race fit with these. Truthfully, we don't know. I guess the majority of the public would say not. If he does run better than the public feels, it will be quiet vindication, because nobody has come out and blasted us for running in the race. I really try to enter my horses in spots where I think they can win. Derby Fever makes you see things through rose-colored glasses, but I will stand on my record of how our horses have done and say I'm glad we are in the race."

OFFLEE WILD - The Blue Grass Stakes third-place finisher galloped today, and as he cooled out, trainer T.V. Smith talked about his expectations and hopes for him in the Derby. "You want the horse to perform at his best - everything else is secondary," Smith said. "If his best isn't good enough, you can live with that. ... There will be another race." Smith was asked if he hoped he could win or believed he could win. "It's a little bit of both," he said. "I really believe he's qualified. It's both hope and knowing I've got a good, nice horse." Then, Smith joked, "If the rest of them run slow enough he'll win."

OUTTA HERE - Delta Jackpot winner Outta Here walked the shedrow Friday morning and will again Saturday as he awaits Derby 129. The Dehere colt blew out down the lane in 24.13 seconds Thursday morning under Derby rider Kent Desormeaux. Co-owner and trainer Bill Currin was asked what the key to success would be for Outta Here on Saturday. "A good, clean break where we can run," Currin said. "His last race (the UAE Derby on March 29 in Dubai), he never really got to run. If we can get out of the gate good, and that's why I chose the 15 because there is that space there (between the main and auxiliary gate), and we can run comfortably with them, when we come home, we intend to go."

SCRIMSHAW/TEN CENTS A SHINE - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas' two Kentucky Derby hopefuls galloped before 6 a.m. with exercise rider Stacy Maker up on both. Scrimshaw, owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis and winner of the Lexington Coolmore Stakes in his previous start, will be ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, who will be making his Derby debut. "I like this horse a lot," Velasquez said. "Mr. Lukas gave me the opportunity to ride for him at Keeneland and we had some winners. I am excited about riding in my first Derby. I like the horse and I like the post we have (the outside No. 17)." Calvin Borel, who will be riding in his fourth Derby, has the call on Ten Cents A Shine. Ten Cents A Shine enters the Derby after a dismal showing in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, after which a tooth problem was discovered and corrected. A week after the Blue Grass, Ten Cents A Shine worked a bullet five-eighths in :58 3/5 with Borel up. "I have worked him twice since the Blue Grass and galloped him once," Borel said. "The first time I worked him, he worked good and he has gotten better and better. "I'd just like to thank Mr. Lukas and Mr. (Ken) Ramsey (owner of Ten Cents A Shine) for the opportunity they have given me."

SIR CHEROKEE - Domino Stud's Sir Cherokee, winner of the Arkansas Derby (GII), has suffered an injury to his right rear ankle and will be scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Trainer Mike Tomlinson said the injury was detected Thursday following a gallop by the son of Cherokee Run at Churchill Downs Trackside Louisville Training Center. "He wasn't completely comfortable in his gallop," said Tomlinson. "We took a look at it, took an X-ray and found a small fracture is his right rear (leg)." Tomlinson said the injury is neither serious nor life threatening but the timing is very bad. "It's a bitter pill to swallow," he said. "We were excited about his chances. It's disappointing and we will be back." He will be out of action for 60-90 days and is expected to resume serious training in three to four months.

SUPAH BLITZ - Bee Bee Stables and Jacqueline Tortora's Supah Blitz walked the shedrow Friday morning and will do so again in the morning according to trainer Manny Tortora. Supah Blitz will be ridden by Rosemary Homeister Jr., who will become the fifth female jockey to participate in the Derby. Homeister was asked what the key would be to a successful Derby run. "A very good break and get myself in good position early so I don't get wiped out coming out of the 1 hole, because I know everybody is going to be turning left coming inside," Homeister said. "I need to get him settled and be very patient and get him in good position by the time I hit the quarter pole. Hopefully we will be within four or five lengths at that point and hopefully have some running room coming down the stretch." Homeister said she would try to ride the race like it was any other, as difficult as it may be. "I know it is not like any other race, but I have to make it like that," said Homeister, the 1992 Eclipse Award winner as the nation's top apprentice. "I have ridden 11 years, I know how to ride and been around the oval 14,000 times. I have ridden mile and a quarter races and won from the 1 hole."

TEN MOST WANTED - Illinois Derby ace Ten Most Wanted went to the racing strip Friday morning at 6:45 with exercise rider Enrique Alferez on his back and trainer Wallace Dollase at his flank on his stable pony. The good-looking son of Deputy Commander then went off on his own and proceeded to gallop a mile and one eighth under a gray Louisville sky, presenting a picture of health and eagerness with his neck bowed and his reins taut as he pulled hard in the exercise. "All's well," said Dollase afterward, as he ambled back to Barn 45 with his colt in tow. "It is all falling into place. Everything since we've come here has been good. We just need to keep it going." The trainer said he had a positive report from jockey Pat Day, who has missed the past three days of riding because of a back strain suffered at home last Monday. "We went to a party hosted by Pat last night," Dollase said. "He said he's OK. He was in good spirits and planning to ride his eight mounts today. He doesn't think there is going to be any problems riding the Derby." Ten Most Wanted will break from Post 16 and take Day for his 21st trip in the Run for the Roses.

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