Richard Rosenblatt

As Uncle Mo was finishing third in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct over the weekend, race caller Tom Durkin exclaimed ... "and the Kentucky Derby is up for grabs!"

It sure is.

With Uncle Mo losing for the first time, there's a new No. 1 in The Associated Press' latest Run to the Roses Top 10 list of Derby contenders: The Factor.

NEW YORK -- Mike Repole is a New Yorker through and through. The kid from Queens used to play stickball and schoolyard basketball, and he loved those bus rides to Aqueduct Racetrack so he could bet on the horses.

Welcome to the Kentucky Derby, Pants On Fire. Same to you, Animal Kingdom and Twice the Appeal.

A weekend full of surprises at tracks in Louisiana, Kentucky and New Mexico has put the names of these 3-year-olds on the AP's latest Run to the Roses Top 10 list of Derby contenders.

Pants On Fire upset Mucho Macho Man in the Louisiana Derby, Animal Kingdom took the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park and 35-1 long shot Twice the Appeal won the Sunland Derby to create a minor Top 10 shuffle.

Mike Repole raised a glass of champagne and toasted his latest Kentucky Derby contender, Stay Thirsty.

"To have one horse for the Derby is unimaginable, to have two is unimaginable, a miracle," the colt's owner said to a party of 40 friends and family members after Stay Thirsty's victory in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct over the weekend. "This doesn't come along very often, so let's all enjoy the ride."

Repole has been doing just that for weeks with unbeaten Uncle Mo, who remains No. 1 in the AP's latest Run to the Roses Top 10 Derby list. Stay Thirsty, who has been running in his stablemate's shadow, moves in for the first time at No. 6.

Gotta go with Mo.

The Kentucky Derby is still about three months away, but there's little argument right now that Uncle Mo is the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May.

Winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and 2-year-old champion, Uncle Mo is training toward his 3-year-old debut next month in the Tampa Bay Derby.

So far, so good. The colt trained by Todd Pletcher worked a half-mile in a solid 47.45 seconds at Palm Meadows in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Sunday.

NEW YORK -- The song calls for heads of long, beautiful hair -- shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen hair. No problem, say many NFL players, who are growing their hair longer and longer these days -- or maybe it just seems that way.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Happy in her summer home at Saratoga Race Course, Rachel Alexandra just may be rounding into championship form. Then again, maybe not.