Will He or Won't He?

Today is the day we will find out if Lentenor is going to enter the Florida Derby, this Saturday, or the Wood Memorial, on April 3 at Aqueduct. According to a Daily Racing Form article, Matz said he will "probably just wait up until entry time on Wednesday, see who's going into the race, and make a decision then."

A lightening fast workout on Monday on the dirt over the main track at Palm Meadows under jockey Alan Garcia, is what prompted all this speculation. Lenny clocked in at 1:00 for five furlongs and was the fastest of all 36 workouts recorded that morning. "I was very pleased and Alan really liked him as well," Matz said. "I put him behind three horses, he went around them and took the dirt well."

Because the Kentucky Derby requires Graded Stakes winnings for entry, Lentenor must come in first or second in his next start or he is not eligible. The winner of the $750,000 Wood Memorial automatically qualifies. So does the winner of the $500,000 Florida Derby.

Talk about pressure--not only on Lenny to literally run away with his next race but on Matz to choose the best situation for him to accomplish this.

For all the back and forth about the Lentenor camp not really caring which whether or not Lentenor runs in the Kentucky Derby, I think the truth is more likely that they don't want to be in a position to say, "We should have." They need to give Lenny a fair shot to show what he can do on the dirt and and then not be surprised if he blows everyone away.

Actually either race makes sense. If he did run in New York, he would then ship back to Keeneland, which opens April 2. In fact, he probably would ship from Keeneland to New York, most likely moving out by the beginning of next week.

Decisions. Decisions. We'll certainly know more by this afternoon.