Adriano's manners improve
Another positive for the colt is that Motion said afterward that he was much better behaved than he was before the Fountain of Youth.

"I thought another key was that he was very good in the paddock,” he said. “He's very hot-blooded. In the Fountain of Youth, he kind of fell apart that day. The fact that he was good today made a big difference.”

So summing up, we know that Adriano loves the Polytrack and is at home on the lawn, but we have absolutely no idea if he will take a cotton to the sod.

There is a possibility that he didn’t get a chance to show his best in the Fountain of Youth, when he broke from the disadvantageous 12 post, steadied entering the first turn, then chased the pace-setters up the backstretch before beginning a steady retreat.

Unfortunately, we probably won’t get a chance to test that theory before the Derby. Motion indicated he was considering running the colt back in the $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 19. Did I mention that the race will be run over a Polytrack surface?

I’m interested in your thoughts on Adriano. And, more generally, how do you handicap horses racing on artificial surfaces when they switch to the dirt? Do you favor a particular running style for that move? Are speed figures reliable gauges despite the surface switch? Click here to e-mail me and I’ll publish some of the best responses in next week’s column.

A half hour before the Lane’s End, Big Glen got a heady ride from Rene Douglas to win the $100,000 Rushaway Stakes for 3-year-olds. But trainer Frank Brothers made it clear that he was not even considering throwing the son of Cactus Ridge to the wolves in the Derby. “He’s a hard-trying little horse who thinks he’s a big horse,” he told ESPN’s Jeanine Edwards.

Whither War Pass?
In last week’s column, I asked for your opinions on whether War Pass can rebound from his terrible race in the Tampa Bay Derby. Most of you said “no,” opining that the race exposed him as a one-dimensional speedster. But there were some contrarians. Here’s a sampling of your responses.

• Don Miller said that he gives the Juvenile champ a shot at rebounding in the Wood Memorial. “I suspect it was his getting clobbered out of the gate … took the wind out of his sails. But who knows, maybe he just didn’t like the breeze coming off Tampa Bay!”
• But Jim Cleffi of New Jersey said he doesn’t believe War Pass will race again before the Derby: “War Pass will not make the Wood. He has a lot of recovering to do.”
• Reader Mason Platt said trainer Nick Zito erred in picking the Tampa Bay Derby: “Speed dies on that surface, going long in most instances, especially when the track is drying out after a rain.  … That is not the only thing though. … The underlying thing about this horse is that he is not the superstar that everyone thinks he is.  He has now proven that he has a chink in his armor.  He is a single dimensional horse.  If he doesn’t have the lead and he will not have an uncontested lead in the Derby then he cannot win, at least going long.”
• And like many other racing fans, reader Wesley D. White said that the post-race excuse from owner Robert LaPenta that War Pass had spiked a fever the week before the race left a bad taste. “To hear about the fever from the days before hurt me as a horse racing fan because no one wants to see a horse run sick, and then to question the owner and trainer who would allow a horse of that caliber to run while sickly.  Situations of that nature push people away from horse racing.”   

While handicappers may feel that they have more questions than answers about the Derby contenders so far, the mist should begin to clear in the next three weeks, as major preps around the country unfold.

The big Derby prep this weekend is the $1 million Florida Derby (Gr. 1) at Gulfstream.

Among those expected to go to post are Hutcheson Stakes winner Smooth Air; Fountain of Youth Stakes runner-up Elysium Fields; the highly touted but unproven Big Brown; Peruvian superstar Tomcito; Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Fierce Wind; and sharp allowance winner Hey Byrn. Majestic Warrior, co-owned by Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, is listed as possible. The race will be televised at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Also on Saturday is a race that has yet to make an impact on the U.S. Triple Crown, though it seems likely that it will one of these years —  the U.A.E. Derby in Dubai. A field of 12 is expected to face the starter, including three U.S.-bred colts — the famous round these parts colt Numaany, (click here if you haven’t seen his amazing maiden score at Aqueduct yet), Strike the Deal and Massive Drama. The highly regarded Etched had been expected to run but was not listed in the “provisional” entries released Monday.

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