I hope EXAG doesn't wind up sitting dead last in this field.

Earlier at Barn 25, Desormeaux had been asked by a TV reporter where he believed his charge would be running come Saturday in the mile and one quarter Kentucky Derby.

"He’s going to be far, far in the back,” the conditioner said, making no attempt to disguise his strategy. “He’ll be so far back, he’ll be behind the kick-back. You know these horses throw (dirt) kick-back when they run. I want that kick-back from the pack to go up and come down and then you’re going to see Exaggerator. Kent (his brother and the colt’s rider) will be back there counting cars.”


Starting to wish Sise would give any indication that this one can get 1 1/4:

Sise, 64, never has had a Derby starter, but has had a couple horses who were on the Kentucky Derby trail before being derailed. Last year Sise was preparing Prospect Park for the Kentucky Derby when the colt exited his fourth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (GI) with an elevated white blood cell count. The other horse that Sise had hoped to run in the Derby was CaliforniaChrome’s sire, Lucky Pulpit, in 2004.

“My biggest disappointment was last year with Prospect Park because he wants to go a mile and a quarter,” Sise said. “The only relief from that disappointment was that no one was going to beat American Pharoah, although it would have been nice to hit the board.”

Where is the "but we're real excited to be here this year" part?