LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fourteen hours before post positions were to be drawn for the 150th Kentucky Derby, a serious contender officially joined the party. Encino, just two weeks after winning the Lexington Stakes to earn enough points to make the field, sealed his connections’ decision to run in next week’s Kentucky Derby with a superb five-furlong workout shortly after 5:15 a.m. Saturday. With jockey Florent Geroux aboard, Encino went five furlongs in 59.64 seconds, starting a length behind his more highly-regarded Derby stablemate Catching Freedom, and finishing a neck in front at the wire. Encino got his final quarter in 23.31 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch, and proceeded to gallop-out six furlongs in 1:12.11 and seven furlongs in 1:26.58. Saturday morning’s work capped a series of eye-catching training sessions for Encino, who only made his first start on dirt two weeks ago in the Lexington, prevailing by three-quarters of a length over The Wine Steward. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. Prior to that, Encino had gone 2 for 3 over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, including a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial. Trainer Brad Cox named apprentice Axel Concepcion to ride Encino in the Derby. The 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico was the champion apprentice jockey of 2023. He has only been a journeyman rider for about three months. On Friday, Concepcion won his first graded stakes when he guided the Cox-trained Chop Chop to victory in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes. “I think he’s a top rider,” Cox said Saturday morning. “For his age, he’s incredibly cool and calm. I think he’s got a big future and I think he’s a really good rider.” Also confirmed for the Derby Saturday morning was Endlessly, the Jeff Ruby Steaks winner who was also being considered for the Grade 2 American Turf on the same card. Trainer Michael McCarthy, who has offered some resistance to running Endlessly on the dirt given his 5-for-6 record on turf and synthetic, said following a good work Friday over the main track at Churchill Downs and a conversation with owner John Amerman, the decision was made to run in the Derby. Umberto Rispoli will ride. Twenty-two horses were entered for the Derby, with post positions to be drawn Saturday night between races 3 and 4 (roughly 7:15 p.m.) in the new paddock at Churchill Downs. In the body of the race, in qualifying points order, are Sierra Leone, Fierceness, Catching Freedom, Stronghold, Resilience, Forever Young, Endlessly, Dornoch, Just a Touch, Track Phantom, West Saratoga, Just Steel, Honor Marie, Domestic Product, Catalytic, Society Man, Mystik Dan, Encino, T O Password, and Grand Mo the First. The also eligibles, in order, are Epic Ride and Mugatu. Seize the Grey, at one time considered for the Derby, was instead entered in the Pat Day Mile. Cox said he had Geroux work Encino because he had ridden him in the Lexington and wanted to get feedback from him on how the horse was getting over the Churchill surface. “He really liked [the work],” Cox said. “I’m sure Flo wished we’d wait for the Preakness.” Cox reiterated that Catching Freedom is not a flashy workhorse, but he certainly shows up in the afternoon. He figures to be a top-five choice in the Derby based on his victory in the Louisiana Derby, where he rallied from last to win by a length over Honor Marie. “He’s definitely shown he can get the distance,” Cox said. “I think he’s got to get a good trip and I do think he can be a little bit closer to the pace than he was in the Louisiana Derby. The horse next to him broke through the gate, he lunged forward, banged himself and that jarred him a little bit. That’s one reason why he broke so flat-footed last time.” Later in the morning, Just a Touch, the Blue Grass runner-up, worked five furlongs by himself in 1:00.62 under Geroux. “Overall, he’s doing well, he’s fit, just put two steady moves into him here,” Cox said. He’s getting over the track well.” The Cox trio were among nine Derby horses to put in workouts Saturday morning at Churchill. Sierra Leone and Domestic Product, both trained by Chad Brown, worked five furlongs in 1:00.32, per Welsch. Though Tyler Gaffalione rides Sierra Leone, he worked Domestic Product. Brown said Gaffalione knows the horse having ridden him in the Tampa Bay Derby and wanted to make sure the sometimes hard-pulling horse didn’t do too much. “I wanted them to work on even terms,” Brown said. “I told Tyler if he starts to pull a little bit, don’t let him poke his head just in front because then he wants to go on at that point, then he’s going to get away from you. We purposely kept him just a head [behind] and he was content, but galloping out Tyler said he had a ton of horse.” Regarding Sierra Leone, on whom Gaffalione is 2 for 2, Gaffalione said he liked the fact that when Domestic Product came up to him “you could see him stick his head out a little bit more. It definitely helps having a little encouragement on the outside.” Trainer Danny Gargan worked his pair of Dornoch and Society Man together. They went a half-mile in 47.03 seconds, per Welsch with a solid gallop-out of 59.58 seconds and 1:12.57. “They looked good doing it, they weren’t riding them or anything; we wanted a nice gallop-out because we’re going a mile and a quarter in the Derby,” Gargan said. “They galloped out really good I thought. Society Man got a little blow out of it so he might have needed a good work. Dornoch did it easy; he never really shows any sign of being tired so he came back like nothing happened.” Also working for the Derby were Mystik Dan, the Southwest winner, who went five furlongs in 1:01.20 in company with recent maiden winner Elephant’s Ear. West Saratoga, the Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up, worked three furlongs in 37.11 seconds. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.