The nine-race card at Gulfstream Park on Sunday concludes with an intriguing pick four. If things fall the right way, the multi-race wager could pay a decent price. Likely favorites trained by Christophe Clement in the sixth and last race will have a big impact on the payoff, though.

1875 – Hal Price McGrath’s Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with Oliver Lewis aboard for trainer Ansel Williamson. The first Derby is run at 1 1/2 miles.

1882 – Apollo wins the Derby without having run as a 2-year-old. No other horse would accomplish that feat – “the curse of Apollo” – until Justify 136 years later.

1913 – Donerail takes the Derby at a shocking 91-1, to this day the longest odds ever for a Kentucky Derby winner.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Can one really, truly know what it might feel like to participate in their first Kentucky Derby? Trainer Larry Demeritte, who has chased the Derby dream all the way from the Bahamas, has been doing his best for many years to be prepared when that call comes to make the walkover from the stable area.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 67°
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The final special training session for Kentucky Derby and Oaks participants went off without incident Thursday at Churchill Downs. However, Domestic Product, who came out to train nearly 30 minutes later with the general population, did have to delay his gallop briefly due to a horse who lost its rider and got loose in his vicinity while he stood calmly along the outside rail about 100 yards from the finish line.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – At one end of the stable area there is Sierra Leone, a well-bred, magnificent-looking specimen who cost $2.3 million and hails from some of the most powerful connections in the sport. At the other, there is West Saratoga, a modestly bred, ordinary-looking gray who cost $11,000 and hails from connections with humble beginnings.

Randomized, an Eclipse Award finalist in the 3-year-old filly division last year, makes her 2024 debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian Stakes for fillies and mares at the Belmont at the Big A meet. The 11-race card also includes the Fort Marcy Stakes and the Elusive Quality.

Randomized came to hand last summer for Chad Brown, reeling off victories in the restricted Wilton at Saratoga on July 14, the Grade 1 Alabama there on Aug. 19, and the Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont At The Big A on Oct. 8.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It comes as no surprise that trainer Chad Brown, longtime king of the North American filly and mare turf-route division, has a presence in Saturday’s Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs. Brown has won the last three renewals of this race.

Also unsurprising is the fact bettors must figure out which Brown is the right Brown. Eleven fillies and mares were entered in the $750,000 Distaff Turf Mile, three trained by Brown: Chili Flag, Delahaye, and Coppice.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The only derby winner running on the first Saturday in May at Santa Anita, Planetario happens to be the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes.

A Brazilian import who won the Group 1 Grande Premio Derby Paulista in his native land before emerging as one of the top distance turf horses in California, Planetario is the horse to beat in the 1 1/4-mile Whittingham. He is no walkover, despite a familiar rival who is missing.

No rival could get close to City of Troy in his three starts as a 2-year-old in Ireland and England last year.

A winter of hype has led to the impeccably bred colt’s much-anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Group 1 English 2000 Guineas at a mile at Newmarket Racecourse.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Skelly can go over $1 million in Oaklawn Park earnings on Saturday when he defends his Lake Hamilton title against a field that includes Southern California shipper Straight No Chaser and South Florida invader Mish.

The $200,000 Lake Hamilton, a six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up, drew a field of eight. It goes as the 10th race on a 12-race card that includes the $200,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship.