Tom Durkin silenced!

Tom Durkin has been conspicuous by his sudden absence from the announcer’s booth at Aqueduct this week.

Less than a month after his return from winter vacation, Durkin has been ordered by an appropriately specialized physician to rest his strained vocal chords for at least a week, a test of will for the loquacious, ebullient, race caller but a penance to which he is reportedly resigned.

A meaningful Lexington? Maybe

It has been quite a long time since the Lexington Stakes, the last chance for horses with borderline graded stakes earnings to make the Kentucky Derby starting in the inevitable event that there are more than 20 entered. Woody Stephens used the Lexington to prepare Swale for the Derby in 1984 and the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Charismatic earned a spot in the Derby in 1999. It is not insignificant that both won two legs of the Triple Crown.

A good race from Tomcito, the Peruvian, in the Lexington would raise his stock significantly after a better-than-it looked race in the Florida Derby that was overshadowed by Big Brown’s performance. Having established dirt form, a sneaky-good nine-furlong prep on dirt and wins in Peru at both 10 and 12 furlongs would make Tomcito a promising longshot in Louisville provided that he runs a strong race over the recycled tires at Keeneland on Saturday.

Meanwhile …

Tale of Ekati worked a half-mile in: 49.20 Thursday morning at Keeneland, “a little maintenance work,” in the words of Barclay Tagg. The Tale of the Cat colt upset champion War Pass in the Wood Memorial in his last start, and currently ranks third on the Derby graded stakes earnings list with $738,000. Tagg confirmed that Eibar Coa will have the mount in the Derby.

Tagg also reported that despite his having come up empty in the Blue Grass, Big Truck continues to be pointed toward a Derby, though he is in danger of elimination on the earnings rule.

Pyro, suffering from lost stature is “doing good,” nevertheless according to Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. Blasi said plans currently call for the colt to work at Keeneland Monday morning and ship to Churchill Downs on Tuesday. Blasi also reported that Kodiak Kowboy, fourth in the Lafayette at Keeneland on April 6, will make his next start in the $100,000 Derby Trial at Churchill on April 26.

Blue Grass winner Monba, focus of a good deal of recent irrational exuberance, will be ridden in the Kentucky Derby by Ramon Dominguez, reported The Blood-Horse on Wednesday. Edgar Prado, who was aboard the colt in the Toyota Blue Grass, will ride Adriano in the Derby, which is not something to disregard.


Hennegan film well reviewed

Producers John and Brad Hennegan will premiere their award-winning documentary "The First Saturday in May" in 20 theaters on Friday. Five more cities will showcase the movie the following week.

The film has been the subject of generally favorable criticism:

"You don't need to love racing to appreciate these people, sustained over the months by a two-minute dream," wrote Joshua Rothkopf in Time Out New York. "The doc culminates in a sequence of extraordinary power, set to a ghostly choral version of 'My Old Kentucky Home,' the traditional riders-to-post song. We see young boys in their new suits, the smiles of nervous trainers and grooms, the NASCAR-like circus of paparazzi, Southern ladies and jockeys. In mere moments, the film evokes the whole of Americana. The bell rings, and your heart is already in your throat. Essential."

Sports Illustrated also reviewed the film in its current, April 21 issue. "It is a testament to these grounded men," wrote Kostya Kennedy, "that the viewer roots for all of them...The film, directed with a taste for salient, often humorous detail by brothers John and Brad Hennegan maintains a simple tension...The Derby shimmers constantly in the background yet its outcome, we see, is not make or break for the trainers. Their joy comes from the doing. In 'Saturday', spending time with a few majestic horses, and the people who have committed their lives to them, is reward enough."

The Hennegan Brothers have pledged 25 percent of their first-week box office revenues, as well as a portion of revenues generated when the film is released on DVD, to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation (www.grayson-jockeyclub.org), which raises and distributes funding for research beneficial to horses.

"The First Saturday in May" opens tomorrow in: Austin, Tex. (Dobie Theatre), Berkeley, Calif. (Shattuck), Boston (Kendall Square), Chicago (Century), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (Florence Cinemas), Cleveland (Cedar Lee), Columbus, Ind. (Yes Cinema), Denver (Chez Artist), Detroit (Maple Art), Indianapolis (Keystone Cinema), Lexington, Ky. (Kentucky Theatre), Los Angeles (Sunset Laemmle), Louisville (Cinema De Lux 20: Stonybrook), Minneapolis (Lagoon), New York City (Cinema Village), Philadelphia (Ritz at the Bourse), St. Louis (Plaza Frontenac), San Diego (Hillcrest), San Francisco (Opera Plaza) and Washington, D.C. (E Street).

The film will open on April 24 at the Saratoga Film Forum in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and on April 25 at: Milwaukee (Downer), Muskegon, Mich. (Harbor Theatre), Atlanta (Midtown Arts) and Seattle (Varsity).