This is going to be a big jump for him. I usually don't like to do this sort of thing, but he's got such a good psyche about him. He does things with such ease. Mentally, it's like he's done it 100 times.

But he hasn't missed a lick in his training since getting down here in November, and it doesn't seem like he's lost a step in the morning. I don't know if he's still a Grade 1 horse or not, but if everything goes well Saturday we'll give him a shot at the Donn and see what happens.

Richie said he started to idle, and then Richie panicked and cracked him. You really don't want to hit him any more than you have to. He got him running again, but I think it caught him off guard.

So far so good -- he's done everything we've asked of him. We've had a couple of setbacks. We wanted to run in the Wood. That was our perfect plan, but it wasn't to be. We considered the Blue Grass [April 15], but he needed another week and another breeze. So we decided it was best to wait for this race. We have to win here to make it to the Derby.

It was probably too much pressure on him. I wish I had a more definitive answer. Maybe he's just not as good as he was.

He's got a couple of races under his belt, he's training dynamite, he looks good, he feels good. We've got no excuses. I feel good about it. Right distance, right spot, right track. He's perfect. He's as right as I can get him right now.