re: The Road to the 2012 Kentucky Derby

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Everyone, including trainer Jonathan Sheppard, is waiting to see if the speedy Ever So Lucky belongs on the Triple Crown trail. The answer, hopefully, will come Feb. 11 when the son of Indian Charlie leads a short field of six in the $150,000 Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park.

Sheppard entered Ever So Lucky in the seven-furlong Hutcheson, but on Feb. 8 said there is a possibility that he could scratch him and instead point toward the March 10 Swale at the same distance. The bay colt is doing fine, Sheppard said, but he may want to give him an extra month to make his 3-year-old debut. Ever So Lucky's five-furlong work in 1:01 3/5 on Feb. 6 was not exactly what the trainer was looking for from his final breeze before the Hutcheson.

"It was too slow. I think the horse needed one more good work," Sheppard said. "I mean, it was better than nothing, but it didn't prove much.

"The horse wasn't even blowing after the work. When he worked the previous time, he worked in company. Julien (Leparoux) had to ride him a little bit to catch up. The horse got something out of it, and I wanted something similar. This time for some reason I decided to work him alone." Even with the less-than-ideal work, Sheppard said: "I expect we'll end up running him. The horse is doing wonderfully."

Ever So Lucky, who was bought by George Strawbridge Jr. for $600,000 last year, is a speedballer who broke his maiden by 3 1/4 lengths in his debut at Churchill Downs in November, and came back to finish second to Gemologist in the Kentucky Jockey Club at the end of the month. Leparoux has been named to ride and they would break from post 6.

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