LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Trainer Kenny McPeek isn't afraid to boast about Harlan's Holiday.

"He's deserving to be the favorite," McPeek said Tuesday after the Blue Grass winner went through his final workout.

With Edgar Prado aboard, Harlan's Holiday breezed a half-mile in 49 3-5 seconds. A crowd of onlookers gathered on the rail along the backstretch.

"He doesn't pay any attention to all that," McPeek said of the biggest crowd Harlan's Holiday has been around this week. "Nothing bothers him at all."

McPeek, wearing a walking cast on his broken left foot, followed Harlan's Holiday to the track in his golf cart. Walking on crutches to get a view of the workout, McPeek consulted with owners Jack and Laurie Wolf and stable manager Barry Berkelhammer.

"He was a little aggressive going to the pole and a little hard for Edgar to handle," McPeek said. "I think that toned down his breeze a little bit."

Harlan's Holiday has six wins and four seconds in 10 career races.

Mayakovski looking more like a Derby starter
Trainer Patrick Biancone said Mayakovsky's workout Wednesday probably will determine his status for the Derby.

The Matty G colt is to work five furlongs. Demi O'Byrne, who manages the racing interests of Mayakovsky's owner, Michael Tabor, will be on hand.

"After the work, we'll decide," Biancone said Tuesday.

If the colt is entered in the Derby, he will run, Biancone added. He said he wouldn't enter, then scratch Mayakovsky to keep Sunday Break from a field limited to 20 horses. That would make that colt's scheduled rider, Gary Stevens, available for Johannesburg.

The original plan was to run Mayakovsky in the Derby Trial and point for the Preakness, but the colt was scratched because of wet weather.

Biancone believes Mayakovsky has the talent to run in the Derby, but he still is trying to assess the colt's readiness.

"I think this horse is the best 3-year-old in the country," Biancone said. "The problem is not physical; the problem is mental. I want him to mature there, and I'm watching him every day to see if he is maturing enough to prove what I am saying."

'Ocean' breezes
Baseball caps and buttons with fluorescent pink logos touting Ocean Sound have been popping up on the backside this week.

"The matching T-shirts are still on the way," joked Jim Ford, one of three owners of the Jim Cassidy-trained colt. "We need all the support we can get."

The probable Derby long shot is coming off a third-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes, and hasn't won in 11 starts dating to last July. He also had trouble handling the track surface in a workout, Cassidy said.

The Irish-bred colt still managed to breeze four furlongs in a swift 47 2-5 seconds.

"He needed a bit of a wake-up call this morning, but I think we got it," Cassidy said. "That was a tad faster than I would have liked, but that's OK. He's got four days to recover."

Chris McCarron rode Ocean Sound through his workout Tuesday, but Alex Solis has the mount for the Derby.