Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

Making only two starts in the four months before the Kentucky Derby has historically been as close to a sure thing as you’ll find at the racetrack -- a virtual guarantee of also-ran status on the first Saturday in May.

But after Street Sense broke the 24-year-long streak of futility last year, other trainers are throwing the old playbook out the window and planning showing up in Louisville with a fresh horse.

By my count, at least 10 highly regarded 3-year-olds apparently will try to make the Derby starting gate off just two starts in 2008: Anak Nakal, Colonel John, Court Vision, Cowboy Cal, Etched, Maimonides, Majestic Warrior, Monba, Numaany and Tale of Ekati. Some of the above could try to squeeze in another start, but that seems to run counter to the freshness trend sweeping barns around the nation.

And Juvenile champ War Pass will be virtually doing the same, after winning an allowance race Sunday that was really just a public workout against four badly overmatched rivals.

So the question confronting handicappers is this: While Street Sense showed that it’s possible to win at 1 ¼ miles with just two preps, does such a light regimen improve or hurt a horses chances of wearing the roses?

A bit of history: Prior to Street Sense’s victory, only two horses in 60 years had won the Derby after starting only twice at 3. The last horse to do it before Street Sense, Sunny’s Halo in 1983, ran 11 times at 2, including four two-turn races. With both starts at 3 being around two-turns, that means he was very well prepared for the demands of the Derby from a mental point of view.

Street Sense himself had five two-turn races before the Derby, making him well seasoned by today’s standards.

Obviously training methods are changing, and lighter pre-Derby campaigns make sense from the standpoint that horses aren’t racing anywhere near as much during their careers at the track.

But one thing that isn’t changing is that the Derby is by far the most demanding race that any horse has faced when the gates are sprung.  Horses that are light on experience – particularly two-turn experience – should be viewed skeptically as betting propositions on race day, as well as in futures betting.

That’s my view, anyway.

Click on this link to tell me how you’ll gauge lightly raced horses that make it into the Derby this year. And while you’re at it, tell me if you think it was lack of seasoning that got Curlin beat in last year’s Derby, or just a tough trip from the inside? And you can tout me on any other Derby prospects I’ve forgotten to mention who will likely only have two starts this year.

I’ll post excerpts of some of the best responses in next week’s column.

Adventures in timing
On to Sunday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), the only major Triple Crown prep of the weekend.

The race seemed a complete puzzler on Sunday, when the Gulfstream timer showed fractions and final time that were so slow they were hard to believe.

It turned out there was a reason for that: The race was mistimed, according to track officials, who said that an outrider and his pony  inadvertently crossed in front of the timer before early leader Golden Spikes hit the mark.

The Daily Racing Form reported that track officials then hand-timed the race three times before posting a corrected version.

Here’s a comparison of the two:

Original time: :25.78  :49.27  1:13.19  1:38.31  1:51.85

Revised time: :24.03  :47.62  1:11.52  1:36.32  1:50.07

Difference:   -:01.75  -:01.65  -:01.37  -:1.99 -:01.78     

With the revised time, it now appears that Cool Coal Man ran a pretty strong race (the Daily Racing Form reports he earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the victory), albeit one in which he got a perfect rail-skimming trip while several others encountered traffic in the full field.

The Nick Zito trainee showed his greenness in deep stretch, when he started loafing after opening up a clear lead on runner-up Elysium Fields and then had to dig in to hold that one safe by a half-length. But if you’re a glass-half-full handicapper, that also means he has room for further improvement as he faces the tougher challenges to come.

Elysium Fields, who finished a game second, appeared not to like running on the rail, as he really took off once Eibar Coa switched him to the outside of Cool Coal Man. The Barclay Tagg-trained runner was making only his fifth start in the Fountain of Youth and first against winners, indicating the son of El Prado also has plenty of upside.

The top two are likely to collide again in the Florida Derby on March 29 at Gulfstream, their trainers indicated on Monday.

Of the others in the race, Court Vision recorded a useful comeback to finish third, about 6 ¼ lengths behind the winner. He was way back early and made an impressive-looking move when racing seven or eight wide rounding the far turn. Trainer Bill Mott said he had not made plans for Court Vision’s next race, but indicated it would likely be somewhere other than Gulfstream Park. That’s because the racing surface in Hallandale, Fla., is not especially conducive to a deep closer like Court Vision, he said.