LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Forte had his final gallop Friday morning for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, he was wearing a three-quarter shoe on his right front foot. A piece of the shoe was cut off at the upper part of the inside heel.
“Take a little pressure off the heel,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Something we commonly do.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Skinner, the third-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby, has been scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to an elevated temperature, according to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Skinner became the fourth horse to scratch from the Derby in 24 hours, joining Practical Move, Lord Miles, and Continuar.
The Derby will be run, for now, with 19 horses.
According to the Churchill Downs media department, the last time four horses scratched from the Kentucky Derby was in 2015 when 22 horses were entered.
This story will be updated.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ Continuar will be scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, it was announced Thursday night by his connections.
In a statement put out by Churchill Downs, Yoshito Yahagi, the trainer of Continuar, said that he was not happy with the colt’s fitness level.
Churchill Downs has banned the trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for an “indefinite period,” citing the sudden deaths of two of his horses over the past five days at the track.
The announcement of the decision to ban Joseph came 30 minutes after Kentucky stewards said that Joseph had agreed to scratch all of the horses he had entered at Churchill, including Lord Miles, who was entered in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
Churchill Downs
Thursday, May 4
Weather: Sunny
Temperature: 43
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A busy and very eventful morning on the Kentucky Derby/Oaks watch Thursday at Churchill Downs with arguably the most impressive training session of the morning saved for last when Skinner came out at his usual time, shortly after 9:00 a.m., to turn in an eye-catching gallop over the freshly harrowed strip.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Practical Move, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and a major player in the Kentucky Derby, will have to scratch out of the race due to a temperature, trainer Tim Yakteen said Thursday afternoon.
“We spiked a temperature,” Yakteen said. “It started climbing right after training when we do our due diligence. He didn’t jump into the feed tub like he usually does. We temp our horses routinely, that’s when it was recognized.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Given the events of the past week at Churchill Downs, the sight of two horses running loose without a rider – one a Kentucky Derby starter, one a Kentucky Oaks hopeful – made for some heart-palpitating moments Thursday morning during training hours.
Thankfully, neither Derby runner Verifying nor Oaks longshot And Tell Me Nolies were hurt, and both, as of Thursday morning, were expected to be able to make their engagements.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For years, Arlington Park’s opening day coincided with Kentucky Oaks Day. Then COVID-19 struck, and Arlington didn’t begin a 2020 meeting until July. In 2021, the opener returned to the first Friday in May – a dark day, not a celebration. Churchill Downs Inc., Arlington’s owner, already had decided, strictly for financial reasons, to shed the track from its corporate portfolio. In May 2022, the massive Arlington grandstand, the vast tract of land upon which it rests, stood quiet as a remote Illinois prairie.
Customers of the enormous FanDuel sports-betting platform will have the ability this year to wager on the Kentucky Derby directly from their regular accounts for the first time, a feature that officials for the company and Churchill Downs Inc. believe could lead to a significant jump in betting on the race.
