CHURCHILL DOWNS
Friday, April 24
Weather: Sunny
Temp. 67°
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 2026 Churchill Downs spring meeting does not open until Saturday but there was plenty of action out on the racetrack Friday morning, especially during the 7:15-7:30 workout window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls, their workmates, and 2025 Derby winner Sovereignty.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If So Happy were a professional athlete, he might be akin to Allen Iverson, the NBA All-Star who had a disdain for practice.
Practice? Don’t talk to So Happy about practice.
“You wouldn’t buy him out of a sale breezing,” Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame jockey who has been So Happy’s regular rider, said Friday morning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario—Hall of Famer Patrick Husbands, one of Canada’s most decorated jockeys, has announced his retirement from riding races.
A native of Bridgetown, Barbados, Husbands, 52, has been a cornerstone of Canadian Thoroughbred racing since 1994, becoming a fan favorite and the go-to rider for major races. Over the course of his career, he amassed more than 3,700 victories, won several Woodbine riding titles, and captured eight Sovereign Awards as Canada’s outstanding jockey.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Michael and Jules Iavarone and Ira Rothblut’s TCC Stables have acquired an interest in Kentucky Derby contender The Puma. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed at this time.
Both Iavarone and The Puma’s team, led by trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son Gustavo Jr., will both be seeking their second Derby victories. Iavarone won the Derby in 2008 with Big Brown, the Delgados three years ago with Mage.
Iavarone had been offered an opportunity to buy into Mage in 2003 but passed. He made it clear that he would not make that mistake again.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Silent Tactic finished four lengths behind Renegade in the Arkansas Derby four weeks ago, but it felt like the gap between the two 3-year-olds was larger than that.
Mark Casse, the trainer of Silent Tactic, understands his horse has to run better than he did that day to compete with Renegade but he believes his horse will run better.
Casse said that he and his team were nursing Silent Tactic through a bruised foot in the four weeks between the Grade 2 Rebel – in which Silent Tactic was beaten a nose by Class President – and the Arkansas Derby.
Christophe Clement and John Shirreffs, two elite trainers who plied their trade successfully at the highest level right up until the time of their deaths, were elected into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, it was announced Thursday.
Clement and Shirreffs, each of whom had been on the ballot numerous times when they were alive, were two of 11 new inductees who will be enshrined during a ceremony in Saratoga Springs on Aug. 7. Clement and Shirreffs were elected in the Contemporary category as was the champion sprinter Kona Gold.
Churchill Downs Inc. had net income of $83.0 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 7.7 percent compared to net income in the first quarter last year, driven mostly by increased business at its casinos in Kentucky and Virginia, according to financial statements issued on Wednesday afternoon.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, April 22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp. 65°
Track: FastLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Activity has definitely begun to pick up at Churchill Downs as more and more of the participants in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrive on a daily basis. All horses in both races are required to be on the grounds by 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Four weeks and six days after I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Kentucky Derby at odds of 15-1, his date with Triple Crown destiny came to an abrupt end when the horse, who also won the Preakness, had to be scratched from the Belmont Stakes due to a career-ending tendon injury.
Doug O’Neill, the trainer of I’ll Have Another, remembers calling Paul Reddam to convey the news.
WHO’S HOT
Chief Wallabee, in blinkers, had a super workout over the Churchill Downs main track on Monday which created a lot of buzz and in turn prompted Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona to lower the Florida Derby third-place finisher to 8-1 from 10-1 on his pre-draw morning-line.
The Puma, the Tampa Bay Derby winner and Florida Derby runner-up, was raised to 10-1 from 8-1. The Puma had his strongest move in a while last weekend at Gulfstream Park prior to shipping to Churchill.
