1.   An early favorite has to be Jim Lefebvre, a Valley resident who is currently a hitting coach with the Oakland Athletics.

2.   And Buck Showalter appears the early favorite to repeat as Manager of the Year.

3.   An early favorite in the competition, the Boeing design featured a supercooled telescope that could see deep into space to find enemy targets.

4.   And he is surely the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.

5.   And this after being widely cited as the early favorite.

6.   And though no deadline has been set, sources are trumpeting four candidates with Texas ties as early favorites to replace Pat Sullivan, who resigned.

7.   Based on its excellent record of reaching the late stages of tournaments such as the European and the World Cup, Germany would appear to be the early favorite.

8.   Before Syrah became popular, an early favorite of California winemakers was Petite Sirah.

9.   Black Mercury, also trained by Baffert and ridden by Stevens, is the early favorite in the Lone Star Derby.

10.   A condylar fracture is what sidelined juvenile champion Boston Harbor, who was considered among the early Kentucky Derby favorites before the injury.