The Kentucky Derby / SOME OF THE LEADING CONTENDERS

In alphabetical order:

* ARTAX--If Artax makes it to Louisville, this could be the best Derby for trainer Randy Bradshaw since 1988, when Winning Colors won the race for Wayne Lukas. “I was an assistant for Wayne then,” Bradshaw said, “and I was up at Saratoga, with a bunch of 2-year-olds. We jumped up and down on the beds when the filly hit the wire.” Second to Real Quiet in the Hollywood Futurity and winner of the Santa Catalina on Feb. 1, Artax is scheduled to run in the San Felipe on March 14.

* CAPE TOWN--Strains of Seattle Slew, Mr. Prospector and Seeking The Gold flow through this colt’s bloodlines. He has had five jockeys ride him in his first seven races, and he gets another new rider Saturday when Kent Desormeaux takes over in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. He has won four of seven starts, including the last two around two turns.

* COMIC STRIP--This $300,000 yearling and Cape Town, like Affirmed and Alydar in 1978, are already developing a fierce rivalry. Cape Town has outrun Comic Strip all four times, though the margin was only a half-length in the Holy Bull at Gulfstream on Jan. 17. Trainer Neil Howard, who has a 1-2 punch with Lil’s Lad, is sending Comic Strip to the Fair Grounds for Sunday’s Risen Star Stakes.

* CORONADO’S QUEST--Mike Smith was unable to mount this fractious colt in the paddock before the Hutcheson at Gulfstream. He finally climbed aboard out on the track, then at 4-5 they closed furiously to lose by a neck to Time Limit. Trainer Shug McGaughey continues to school Coronado’s Quest, trying to get him to stand still, and hopes he’s better in the Fountain of Youth. Coronado’s Quest skipped the Breeders’ Cup, finishing his 2-year-old season with November wins in the Nashua and Remsen at Aqueduct.

* FAVORITE TRICK--The horse of the year’s third workout of 1998 was a 51 3/5 half-mile Saturday. “Each time he’d done a little more,” trainer Bill Mott said. “We’d like to keep progressing.” The Swale at Gulfstream, likely to be Favorite Trick’s first race of the year, has never produced a Derby winner since its inception in 1985.

* LIL’S LAD--He’s looking for his first stakes win in the Fountain of Youth. After Lil’s Lad’s second-place finish behind Grand Slam in the Champagne at Belmont Park in October, Will Farish and partners bought 50% of the colt for more than $1 million and the horse was transferred from Frank Martin to Neil Howard, who is Farish’s private trainer. Lil’s Lad’s sire, 1992 Preakness winner Pine Bluff, stands at Farish’s Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky.

* PROSPEROUS BID--John and Betty Mabee bred and race both this colt and Souvenir Copy. Prosperous Bid, a half-brother to Best Pal, second for the Mabees in the 1991 Derby, didn’t make his first start until Jan. 18, and the wait--a 7 1/2-length maiden win--was worth it for trainer Dollase. He won again last week, by two lengths, and is ready for the San Felipe. The baggage Prosperous Bid carries around, however, is formidable: No unraced 2-year-old has won the Derby since Apollo in 1882.

* REAL QUIET--He was a surprise winning the Hollywood Futurity in December. Before that, he took seven races to break his maiden. In his 3-year-old debut, he didn’t beat a horse on a sloppy track in the Golden Gate Derby. The colt gets another chance in the San Felipe.

* SEA OF SECRETS--Trainer Neil Drysdale feels this undefeated colt has no distance limitations, even though his three wins have all been around one turn. The San Vicente on Feb. 7 was his first start in about 2 1/2 months. “[Jockey Kent Desormeaux] said something after the race about a breathing problem,” Drysdale said. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. There’s nothing wrong with his breathing.” Next: The San Rafael.

* SOUVENIR COPY--After winning the Del Mar Futurity and the Norfolk at Santa Anita last year, he was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, then was overwhelmed by Artax in the Santa Catalina, a race in which he didn’t get away cleanly. Trainer Bob Baffert has changed his plans; instead of sending the colt out of town to run in the Louisiana Derby, he’ll keep him home for the San Rafael on March 1.

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THE TRIPLE CROWN RACES

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May 2 Churchill Downs $1,000,000 Kentucky Derby 1 1/4 miles May 16 Pimlico $1,000,000 Preakness 13/16 miles June 6 Belmont Park $1,000,000 Belmont 1 1/2 miles

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