Check this blog daily for all the latest updates on Kentucky Derby contenders and other news as the Run for the Roses is now just 29 days away.

Watch Mo go: Juvenile champion and Kentucky Derby favorite Uncle Mo will start as the red-hot favorite against nine rivals in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The colt has been pointing for this final prep race in owner Mike Repole’s hometown since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November. Uncle Mo is no stranger to New York racing fans. He broke his maiden by 14¼ lengths on the Travers undercard at Saratoga last August, then scored a handy victory in the Champagne. He parlayed his success in New York into success in Kentucky, as he dominated the Juvenile at Churchill Downs - the track the Derby will be run over four weeks from today. In his first start of the year, Uncle Mo coasted to a victory in the Timely Writer Stakes at Gulfstream, a race that was created specifically to lure him. The son of Indian Charlie - who has won his four starts by a combined 27 lengths - isn’t likely to find much competition today, either. Of his nine rivals, only two are previous stakes winners - neither in a graded event. Three horses in the field have only a maiden victory to their credit. The combined earnings of the other nine runners are $589,248. Uncle Mo has earned $1,336,000. Toby’s Corner, a son of 2005 Wood winner Bellamy Road, won three straight races this winter, culminating with a victory in the slop in the Whirlaway at Aqueduct on Feb. 5. But he was a well-beaten third in the Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 behind Uncle Mo’s stablemate Stay Thirsty. With the potential for rain in the New York area today, Toby’s Corner could get his wet track again. Also returning in the Wood is Gotham runner-up Norman Asbjornson.

Favorite out, again: The Santa Anita Derby, which took a hit on Thursday with the scratch of morning-line favorite Premier Pegasus, lost another top contender in Jaycito on Friday. Trainer Bob Baffert scratched the colt, who had inherited favoritism, on Friday afternoon because of an abscessed hoof. The San Felipe runner-up is now likely to make his final prep in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, just two weeks before the Kentucky Derby. With Jaycito now out, the favorite’s role will fall to Silver Medallion, winner of the El Camino Real Derby last time out. But the colt, to be ridden by Garrett Gomez for trainer Steve Asmussen, is making his first start on dirt.

Another on the sidelines: Nashua and Remsen winner To Honor And Serve, most recently third in the Florida Derby, will miss the Triple Crown series with a strained suspensory ligament. It's undetermined if the injury occured in the Florida Derby, but trainer Bill Mott says he wasn't happy with how the colt was moving shortly after arriving back at his Payson Park training base. An ultrasound revealed the damage. The injury is not career-threatening; To Honor And Serve will be hand-walked for several weeks before being re-evaluated.

Two in a row?: Former claimer Watch Me Go, upset winner of the Tampa Bay Derby last month, will get a chance to prove it wasn’t a fluke when he starts as the morning line favorite against 11 rivals in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne. This year's field is wide open; there are several maidens who will contest the event.

In the OR: San Felipe winner Premier Pegasus was scheduled to undergo surgery on a hairline fracture to his left from cannon bone Friday at Santa Anita’s backstretch hospital. The colt suffered the injury during a routine gallop Thursday morning.