Jennie Rees' Road to the Kentucky Derby update

Three-time Kentucky Derby winner Calvin Borel has regained the mount on Arkansas Derby runner-up Ride On Curlin, trainer "Bronco" Billy Gowan said Monday.

Borel has ridden Louisville businessman Dan Dougherty's colt in five of his nine starts, including a track-record win at Ellis Park in a maiden race (5½ furlongs in 1:03) and winning an allowance race at Oaklawn Park in January.

"The only two times he's won, Calvin rode him," Gowan said Monday as he awaited Ride On Curlin's arrival from Arkansas at Churchill Downs. "He's won three Derbies. He's probably won more races for me than any jock ever. So I'm going to take my chances. If he rides the race like Calvin Borel is supposed to ride — on the rail — I think I've got a heck of a shot."

Jon Court rode Ride On Curlin in the Arkansas Derby with Kent Desormeaux up when the colt was a close third in the Rebel. The colt settled off the pace but was forced to come wide in the Arkansas Derby. He was on the rail in the Rebel, but head-and-head for the lead before weakening late.

Gowan said he wants a trip like Borel gave Super Saver to win the 2010 Derby — saving ground on the rail but not battling for the lead. And maybe not coming from last, as Borel did with Street Sense in 2007 and Mine That Bird in 2009.

Cairo Prince securely in field

With the last major prep races held over the weekend, the Kentucky Derby field is coming into sharp focus. The only points race left is Saturday's Coolmore Lexington Stakes, but with only 10 points to the winner, the Keeneland race figures to have minimal impact.

Which means Cairo Prince — the one-time Derby favorite until finishing fourth in the Florida Derby — should be safely in the 20-horse field. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and Cairo Prince's owners had to sweat out last Saturday's results, but now, with 24 points, their colt ranks No. 20 on the list, having the tiebreaker over Uncle Sigh.

And that's with several horses in the top 20 not definite to run, most notably Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass winner Dance With Fate.

"I feel great about it. They let 20 run, and it doesn't matter if you're first or 20th," McLaughlin said Sunday after Cairo Prince worked a half-mile in company in 48³/₅ seconds, galloping out five-eighths of a mile in a strong 1:00⁴/₅ at Palm Meadows.

"It was nerve-wracking, and at the end of the day it all worked out pretty good," he said Monday. "… It's a talented group of 3-year-olds. ... There's a lot of pace in the race. California Chrome is obviously the logical favorite. He's been very impressive. I think you'll have six horses that are close as second, third, fourth, fifth choices. ... Hopefully we train great from now till then and we're second choice."

In other Derby developments:

• Trainer Peter Eurton said Sunday that he and Dance With Fate's owners will wait a week before making a Derby decision. Dance With Fate was to fly back to California Monday.

• Sunland Derby runner-up Midnight Hawk is scheduled to run in this Saturday's Illinois Derby. And while it is not trainer Bob Baffert's style to wheel a horse back in two weeks for the Kentucky Derby, he is not ruling it out. The same is true for Bayern, who would need defections to run after finishing third in the Arkansas Derby in his third career start.

Baffert said in a text message that he will wait to see how his horses train at Churchill before making a decision. Bayern already is in Louisville, while Sunland Derby winner Chitu arrives tomorrow and Santa Anita Derby runner-up Hoppertunity on April 21

• Trainer Todd Pletcher said he most likely will have a four-horse contingent of impressive Arkansas Derby winner Danza, 3-for-3 Florida Derby winner Constitution, Spiral winner We Miss Artie and Louisiana Derby runner-up Intense Holiday.

While he called it "unlikely," Pletcher has not ruled out Vinceremos, who was last in the Blue Grass in his synthetic debut after winning Tampa's Sam Davis and taking second in the Tampa Bay Derby.

"It wouldn't normally be" his style to run back off such a bad race, Pletcher said. "But you've got to draw a line through the synthetic aspect of it. So we'll see."

Pletcher said Danza was sidelined after a narrow loss in the Saratoga Special until March 1, when he was third in a seven-furlong allowance race because of a "knee issue" that did not require surgery. He was always high on the colt but thought he might run out of time to make the Derby.

"We got the seven-furlong allowance race," Pletcher said. "That set us up to have one shot at a big prep. We fortunately had him ready enough to deliver a good performance. Everything worked out, but there was no margin for error, basically.

"I thought it was a huge race. He ran very professionally. He got a good education, sat behind some horses, came through an opening on the inside, drew away at the end, galloped out well."

Vinceremos would need two defections above him on points to get in the 20-horse body of the race. He is one of six horses with 20 points, but is ranked highest among those because of his earnings in unrestricted stakes.

• Ranked second among those with 20 points is Louisville-based Harry's Holiday, the Spiral runner-up who finished 13^th in the Blue Grass. Managing partner Dr. Harvey Diamond said in a text that "we'll give him a few days and see what the trainer (Mike Maker) thinks" as far as the Derby. "The last three in the race I thought were the best three." Favored Bobby's Kitten finished 12th and has no Derby points.

Also at 20 is Pablo Del Monte, third in the Blue Grass after setting the pace. "We are thinking about the Derby," said trainer Wesley Ward. "That's the good thing about the points system: You know exactly where you stand."

B. Wayne Hughes' Medal Count is definite for the Derby, said trainer Dale Romans. "Everybody was very pleased with his race," Romans said of Medal Count's second place in the Blue Grass, which came eight days after he won the Transylvania. "I really think he'll be a contender.

"I know California Chrome has put himself at the top of the class. But again you always have to be suspicious of California horses, what they've been running against. But you get past him, it's wide open. Is his running style the right kind? Can he get the distance? There are all these question marks. There's question marks for all of them. It should be an exciting Derby."

Contact Jennie Rees at (502) 582-4042. Follow her on Twitter @CJ_Jennie, Facebook.com/CJJennie and courier-journal.com/racingblog.

How Derby shapes up

Horses who have earned at least 20 points toward Derby qualifying, deleting those who have been declared out. The tiebreaker if more than one horse has the same number of points is earnings in unrestricted stakes races.