D Wayne Lukas knows a thing or four about winning a Kentucky Derby. Lukas is aiming for number five at Churchill Downs with Dublin.

Dublin starts on his Kentucky Derby road at Oaklawn Park, Arkansas, today in the one-mile $250,000 Southwest Stakes and he is hoping to follow in the hoofprints of 2004 Kentucky Derby hero Smarty Jones.

Lukas has had his problems with Dublin since he won the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, but his disappointing runs since have been attributed to breathing problems. None of us could run for our lives with a paralysed epiglottis. Lukas maintains that now Dublin has undergone surgery to cure the infirmity, he is a new thoroughbred.

Lukas said: “He has been working amazing and we are starting with a new horse.”

Bob Baffert sends his unbeaten Conveyance to take on Dublin, after a hat-trick of victories on the all-weather. Baffert is keen to see if his trailblazing colt can handle the dirt as well as he can the artificial surfaces.