Always Dreaming, Abel Tasman eye a different Oaks-Derby double

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Always Dreaming and Abel Tasman both race as scheduled next Friday, it will mark the first time in recent history that a Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks winner have both run back at Churchill the following year on Derby weekend.

Always Dreaming is slated to go in the Grade 2 Alysheba and Abel Tasman in the Grade 1 La Troienne. Churchill archives do not date back far enough to determine the last time for such a double reprise, if in fact it has ever happened.

The last Derby winner to make a return appearance on Derby weekend was Go for Gin, who finished third behind Goldseeker Bud in the 1995 Churchill Downs Handicap in his final start. Go for Gin won the 1994 Derby.

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The last horse to run in any Churchill race after winning the Derby was Mine That Bird, who was unplaced in two starts (2010 Firecracker and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile) after being turned over to D. Wayne Lukas. Mine That Bird won the 2009 Derby for trainer Chip Woolley.

It has become fairly common for Oaks winners to return the following year in the La Troienne (formerly the Louisville Breeders’ Cup), with seven of the last 20 doing so (and an eighth, Keeper Hill, running back as a 5-year-old in 2000). For anyone thinking about making a big play on Abel Tasman, consider that only one of those has won: Blind Luck, the 2010 Oaks winner, prevailed in the 2011 La Troienne, but the others all lost, often as heavy favorites, including Rachel Alexandra and Plum Pretty.

The last time for a Derby and Oaks winner to run on the same day at any track was 2009, when Rachel Alexandra was first and Mine That Bird was second in the Preakness at Pimlico. Oaks and Derby winners have occasionally competed on the same weekend in Breeders’ Cups.