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DOMINICAN/SEDGEFIELD

The Silverton Hill colorbearers had an easy day Tuesday, with Dominican taking an easy jog over the main track, and Sedgefield playing in the sand at the end of the stable area.

Trainer Darrin Miller s two charges have completed their hard work for the Derby, and will just gallop up to Saturday s main event.

Miller was aboard Dominican, who went out before the break this morning.

"I just walked him on the track, and then jogged him a mile and a half," Miller said.

Sedgefield, who had his final Derby breeze Monday morning (a half-mile in :48.40) had an easy morning.

"We just walked him to the end of the stable area and let him kick some sand around," Miller said. "He came out of yesterday's work really well."

Dominican put up the bullet work on Sunday when the gelded son of El Corredor breezed five furlongs in :59.40. Rafael Bejarano, who won the Blue Grass Stakes (GI) last out aboard Dominican, has the mount again for the Derby. This will be the jockey s third try for the roses. Bejarano rode Andromeda s Hero (eighth) in 2005, and Point Determined (ninth) last year.

Sedgefield will be the first Derby mount for Julien Leparoux, who has quickly become one of the superstars of racing. The 23-year-old native of Senlis, France, won the Eclipse Award last year as the nation s outstanding apprentice, and has continued that success as a journeyman, winning the riding title at the recently concluded Keeneland spring meet for the second straight year.

Miller is already plotting strategy for Wednesday s post position draw.

"I'll get with the two riders today to discuss all the possibilities of the draw," Miller said. "When they assigned post positions, you only had to talk about it afterward. Now you have to anticipate making the right moves. There s a little more stress involved."

HARD SPUN

The day after putting in the fastest Derby work in 28 years, Hard Spun took it easy Tuesday.

"It was his day off, " said trainer Larry Jones. "He just walked the shedrow this morning. Tomorrow, we ll take him out of his stall and see what he wants to do. They say good horses train themselves, and he s a good horse."

The son of Danzig turned a lot of heads Monday morning when he flew five furlongs in :57.60 under jockey Mario Pino. It was the fastest Derby Week work since General Assembly drilled five furlongs in :57.40 in 1979. General Assembly finished second behind Spectacular Bid that year.

"He came out of the work really well, Jones said. Everything is wonderful with him. Yesterday, his breathing was back to normal within 15 minutes of the breeze."

Jones said it was a different kind of workout for a horse of his.

"I m not usually involved with works like this. In general, most people say I work horses slow. But I think he's just handling this track super and feeling good."

Hard Spun, owned by Fox Hill Farms, is coming off a 3 -length victory over Sedgefield in the Lanes End Stakes (GII) on Turfway Park s Polytrack. Before that, he had finished fourth in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

"We weren t getting this kind of result from him at Oaklawn," Jones said. "He just didn t handle that track at all.

"I asked him to work fast at Oaklawn back in February, and he came back breathing hard, like he d just run a route race. That s when I knew he wasn t doing well on that track.

"We had been pointing for the Rebel (March 17), but I knew we d have to find something else for him, so I brought him back to Kentucky for the Lanes End.

"After that, I worked him here at Churchill (five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.20 on April 12) to find out if he liked this track, and then he got a mile maintenance work over the Polytrack at Keeneland (a 1:42.40 clocking on April 23), which apparently you re not supposed to do, but I think it helped him.

"And after yesterday s work, I have to think he likes this track."

NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ

Elizabeth Valando s Nobiz Like Shobiz jogged once around the Belmont Park track under execise rider Derek Sturniolo Tuesday in his first morning back to the track after working five furlongs on Sunday.

The Wood Memorial (GI) winner is scheduled to be sent to the track for a morning gallop on Wednesday before boarding a Louisville-bound plane at a still unspecified time in the afternoon.

Trainer Barclay Tagg, who used the same schedule for his 2003 Kentucky Derby winner, Funny Cide, said that he d prefer to ship even later in the week.

"For one thing, it s logistics. I have a lot to do here and nothing to do there," Tagg said. "For another thing, I don t see any sense in having him there more than one day."

Cornelio Velasquez has the return mount on Nobiz Like Shobiz.