Pletcher, O'neal look strong, but no Derby favorite yet

	Scat Daddy hopes to follow in Barbaro's footsteps and build on his Florida Derby win by capturing the Kentucky Derby. AP
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Four Saturdays remain until Kentucky Derby 133. Five major prep races are scheduled for the next two weekends, beginning with the Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby and Illinois Derby on Saturday. Some things we know. Some things we don't know. A list of each.

Things we know

1) There is no super Horse. Yet. Remember, we reached Louisville last year with a what appeared to be a wide open Derby. Brother Derek. Lawyer Ron. Barbaro. Multiple Stakes winners from different parts of the country. It seemed that any of them could win the Derby. And then on race day, Barbaro toyed with the field and rolled off to the widest margin of victory in 60 years. It's the spring of the year and the horses are fast-developing teenagers. April's truth can be May's fallacy.

2) Todd Pletcher is loaded. The most successful and prolific trainer in the U.S. will have a minimum of three starters in the Derby, and could have as many as six. None of them are dogs. And this is after California-based Ravel, who would have been the favorite at Santa Anita on Saturday, was injured and pulled off the Derby Trail.

Pletcher pulled a late switch and entered Any Given Saturday in the Wood, where he will face blinkered Nobiz Like Showbiz, instead of running a week later in the Blue Grass at Keeneland. Scat Daddy won the Florida Derby impressively last week. Sam P. and King Of The Roxy will both be at Santa Anita. Cowtown Cat will be at Illinois.

3) But Pletcher is taking a chance with Circular Quay. This son of '95 Derby winner Thunder Gulch was sweet in coming from off the pace to win the Louisiana Derby on March 10. He was expected to run in the Wood, but Pletcher will instead train him up to the Derby. That's a whopping eight weeks from last prep to Churchill Downs and last year we wondered if Barbaro could win with five weeks off. Eight seems like an awful lot, but Pletcher is no fool.

4) Doug O'Neill is nearly as flush as Pletcher. The SoCal-based O'Neill got Notional up to second behind Scat Daddy in the Florida Derby and runs Liquidity as the Santa Anita Derby favorite and Cobalt Blue for Merv Griffin Saturday in the Illinois Derby. O'Neill was going to stay home for Easter and send an assistant to the Midwest, but Derby-hungry Merv insisted that O'Neill saddle Cobalt Blue in Illinois, so the whole O'Neill family will spend the weekend in Chicago, which is not so bad at all. Next weekend O'Neill has Great Hunter in the Blue Grass.

If everything breaks right for both trainers, O'Neill (four) and Pletcher (six) could have exactly half the Derby field. realistically, expect them to have a combined total of at least six.