Bob and Beverly Lewis are delighted to be back on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

"We've got Derby fever stronger than we've ever had it," Bob Lewis said Tuesday during a conference call. "Is it more pronounced? You bet."

The Lewises, among the most popular owners in the game, have two hopefuls this year in their quest for a third Kentucky Derby victory. The first two came with Silver Charm in 1997 and Charismatic in 1999.

This time around, the Lewises own Consolidator, winner of the San Felipe Stakes (Gr. 2) in eye-opening fashion, and Going Wild, a two-time stakes winner set to run in Saturday's $750,000 Wood Memorial (Gr. 1) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Naturally, the goal is to wind up at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

"I don't care if you just bought your first horse, you always have that aspiration to make it to the Kentucky Derby," he said.

Both 3-year-old colts are trained by four-time Derby winner D. Wayne Lukas, who has mapped out a game plan that has each horse running outside California for the first time this year.

"Beverly and I sat down and visited with Wayne and this is the path we chose to follow," Lewis said. "And we think its a good position for both horses. Having said that, let's see what happens in the Wood."

The Lewises will make the trip East, planning to arrive in New York on Friday, take in the races at Aqueduct on Saturday, and then jet back to the West Coast.

Going Wild, bay son of Golden Missile and the Strawberry Road mare Pola, is likely to be among the Wood favorites, along with Gotham (Gr. 3) winner Survivalist and Bellamy Road, one of trainer Nick Zito's five Derby hopefuls coming off a huge allowance win at Gulfstream Park on March 12.

Also expected to run are Galloping Grocer, Naughty New Yorker and Pavo, the next three finishers in the Gotham (a steward's inquiry moved Galloping Grocer up to second and dropped Pavo to fourth).

The 1 1/8-mile Wood has produced three of the last five Derby winners - Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, Monarchos in 2001 and Funny Cide in 2003.

Going Wild may not be as well known as Consolidator, but the colt won three straight races wire-to-wire, including the San Miguel and Sham before finishing second Declan's Moon in the 1 1-16th-mile Santa Catalina (Gr. 2) on March 5. In that race, Going Wild was forced to stalk the pace and beaten two lengths.

Look for Going Wild, to be ridden by Victor Espinoza, to return to his front-running style Saturday.

"I would suspect that," Lewis said of Going Wild, who worked five furlongs in 1:00 on Sunday at Churchill Downs. "That would be the objective. I'm sure that would be Wayne's response. We'll play it by ear and see what happens."

Going Wild was originally purchased at the 2003 Keeneland September yearling sale for $140,000 by M.W. Miller III, agent, and the Lewises bought him for $600,000 at the 2004 Fasig-Tipton Florida select 2-year-olds in training sale.

Winning the Wood would be nice, but not a requirement to get to the Derby. The same will be true when Consolidator runs in the Blue Grass.

"I'm just trying to get them both there, that's really my hope and desire," Lewis said. "When you begin to look at statistics in this industry and there are 35,000 to 40,000 foals annually and you happened to have two of those in the Kentucky Derby out of a field of what presumably might be 20 head ... I think being there is just an unbelievable experience. And in our particular case, it's exhilarating just to be there again."

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