Keep an eye on Archarcharch

"We're hoping he's a first-Saturday-in-May kind of horse," jockey Jon Court said, referring, of course, to the Kentucky Derby and to a long, lanky colt with a tintinnabulary name: Archarcharch.

It's that time of year, a time for dreaming of roseate possibilities and searching for promising young horses. And with his victory Saturday in the $60,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds, Archarcharch suggested he possesses considerable promise and hinted at a future that could ring with possibilities.

The Sugar Bowl was only his second race and his first victory; so he's still learning the reason for all this running in circles. In his debut last month in Kentucky, Archarcharch left the starting gate slowly, as though awakened from a deep sleep, and then he rushed into traffic, where Court had to grab a firm hold of the reins to keep the colt from running headlong over his rivals.

Archarcharch rallied strongly to finish second that day, but he ran like a novice. He didn't switch strides on cue; he came down the stretch tossing his head around as if looking for a companion. But his talent and potential were so conspicuous that his trainer, William "Jinks" Fires, decided to run the tyro in the Sugar Bowl.