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.
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In early April 1989, trainer Shug McGaughey, back on the East Coast, had the Santa Anita Derby on his mind. McGaughey trained Easy Goer, champion 2-year-old of 1988, a brilliant winner of his first two starts at age 3. Two weeks after the Santa Anita Derby, Easy Goer would cement his favoritism for the Kentucky Derby by winning the Wood Memorial by three lengths.
McGaughey watched as a colt named Sunday Silence, who hadn’t even faced stakes competition as a 2-year-old, roared to an 11-length win in the Santa Anita Derby.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
April 28, 2024
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temperature: 68
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunday offered a picture-perfect morning at Churchill Downs to pretty much close the book on the final major preparations for this year’s Kentucky Derby, with only the two Japanese invaders, Forever Young and T O Password, likely to record an official work in the days ahead.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was a whirlwind, albeit successful, 12 hours for trainer Steve Asmussen.
On Saturday afternoon, Asmussen was at Oaklawn Park, where he watched Valentine Candy win the Bachelor Stakes, the 3-year-old’s fourth stakes win of the meet. Asmussen jumped in his car for the eight-hour drive to Churchill Downs during which time he was kept apprised of his stable winning four races at Lone Star Park in Texas and then a victory by Zeitlos in the Roxelana Stakes, the latter being the opening-night feature at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Aside from the fact that a horse has never won the race from post 17, trainer Todd Pletcher seemed relatively happy with that post position after Fierceness drew it for Kentucky Derby 150 to be run May 4 at Churchill Downs.
“It’s overdue, right?” Pletcher said. “Way overdue the way I see it.”
It’s a statistical anomaly to be sure, but post 17 is 0 for 44 in the Derby, a race that has seen winners break from posts 18, 19, and 20.
