HALLANDALE, Fla. -- On Saturday at three different tracks in four races, some of the most promising 3-year-old prospects will take their first serious steps on the long and winding road to the Kentucky Derby.
In 
the $100,000 Holy Bull stakes at Gulfstream Park, 1996 Remsen stakes winner The Silver Move meets Acceptable, the colt who raised owner George Steinbrenner's Derby hopes last fall when he turned in a strong second-place finish to Juvenile champion Boston Harbor in the Breeders' Cup at Woodbine.
Steinbrenner, whose best previous Derby shot was no shot at all when Steve's Friend was dusted by eventual Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew in the 1977 Kentucky Derby, seems, for the moment, to be following the same sensible formula he used to root home the 1996 world champion New York Yankees: He's leaving trainer Nick Zito alone to manage Acceptable's training regimen, much as he allowed manager Joe Torre to make the day-to-day decisions with the baseball club.
"Nick has won two Derbies (with Strike the Gold in 1991 and Go for Gin in 1994) and I haven't been close," Steinbrenner said. "I think he knows a little bit more about training horses than I do."
While George is 100 percent right about that, and has been told that the goal is strictly to get his Derby horse to peak form on the first Saturday in May, Zito can expect his phone to ring off the wall when and if Acceptable loses a few Derby preps along the way.
"I told George the Holy Bull is just a starting point," Zito said this week. "But you know George."
THE HOLY BULL FIELD ALSO WILL MARK the 1997 debut for Captain Bodgit, a little-known three-time stakes winner who may be every bit as good as any Derby prospect on the East Coast.
"I'm convinced he's the real thing," said Maryland-based trainer Gary Capuano. "Just about every horse he's beaten has come back to win. One of them -- Confide -- already won a stakes here (at Gulfstream)."
Capuano also pointed out that Captain Bodgit successfully has carried 120 to 122 pounds on three separate occasions and won in his first try around two turns.
"He improved a ton when we stretched him out to a mile and an eighth last November," Capuano added. "So, with the longer races coming, how can I not like him?"
The speedy Arthur L., winner of the What A Pleasure stakes on dirt (by 17 lengths!) and the Tropical Park Derby on turf, is another Derby prospect in this 1 1/16 mile test. Barring a poor start, Arthur L. could prove hard to catch from his inside post position. Also in the field are promising stakes winners Blazing Sword, Affairwithpeaches and Love View, plus the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Prairie Junction, and a pair of solid allowance race winners, Buck's Major and Gold Book. Yet, it is conceivable the best 3-year-old Derby prospect entered at Gulfstream Park on Saturday may turn out to be the lightly raced Zede, who goes in a minor allowance race at seven furlongs on the supporting card.
ZEDE, TRAINED BY BILLY MOTT, BEAT Confide with consummate ease in his career debut at Belmont Park on June 9 and suffered minor injuries when outrun in the Tremont stakes four weeks later. In 1997, Zede has worked purposefully at nearby Payson Park. Mott says he merely is looking for a "good effort," in his return.
"Zede is the best young horse I've ever had for Mr. Paulson (owner Allen Paulson)," said Mott. "We're not in a rush and we're not making any promises. But, it sure would be nice to see him get off to a good start." Zede's most formidable rival in the seven-furlong test on Saturday is Oro Bandito, who finished second to The Silver Move in an allowance race at Belmont last fall before finishing third in a pair of stakes at Aqueduct.
On the West Coast, there are two Derby prep races: the six-furlong, $100,000 San Miguel at Santa Anita and the $200,000 Golden Gate Derby in northern California.
While Thisnearlywasmine has the top Beyer Speed Figures for the San Miguel, stiff competition for the early lead may come from Smoking Mel and Beep Me, which could set things up nicely for stretch-running Red or Latin Dancer, the two fastest finishers in the field.
In the Golden Gate Derby, Free House, who made few believers when he won the Grade-2 Norfolk stakes at Santa Anita last October, gets another chance to prove he belongs on the Derby trail. This time, he might be ambushed by a relatively inexperienced, Bob Baffert-trained colt named Photarc, who nearly upset Baffert's highly prized In Excessive Bull in a seven-furlong stakes Dec. 28 at Santa Anita.
Others in the GG Derby to watch are locally based Houston Fleet N.D. and the Hollywood Park allowance winner Oakhurst.
Taking the four Saturday Derby preps in order, I like Zede in the Gulfstream Park allowance race, Captain Bodgit over Arthur L. in the Holy Bull; Red as a back-and-forth exacta key with Latin Dancer and Thisnearlywasmine in the San Miguel, and Photarc in the Golden Gate Derby. But win or lose, we will surely glean enough information from his first round of Derby preps to post our first top 20 rankings next week.
Steve Davidowitz is the author of "Betting Thoroughbreds.".
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