Hernandez picks up where he left off on Churchill's new turf course

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When Brian Hernandez Jr. won the first race held over the new Churchill turf course Saturday night with a 3-year-old colt named Stitched, he completed an extraordinary double.

“I also won the last race run over the old course,” said Hernandez, referring to a victory aboard Navratilova in the Tepin Stakes on June 26, 2021, the final day of racing here last spring. “Pretty neat.”

The new $10 million course may be tested this week with intermittent rain being forecast throughout the week. Many jockeys and trainers have expressed their satisfaction with the wider layout and the glibness of the surface, although an unseasonably cold spring has kept the grass from filling out to its fullest.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

* Carribean Caper, scratched as the morning-line favorite from the opening-night Roxelana that dwindled down to just three starters, “is fine and will resume training after the Derby,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said Monday.

Carribean Caper “tied up,” or suffered debilitating muscle cramps, after training Friday, necessitating her being scratched from an original field of five.

Carribean Caper, a winner of all five prior starts by a combined 24 lengths, was set to make her 4-year-old debut in the six-furlong Roxelana, which was won easily by Bayerness for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

* Power vocalist Brittney Spencer will sing the national anthem prior to the Derby for the huge ontrack crowd and an international television audience Saturday, while Louisville native and rap chart-topper Jack Harlow will deliver the “Riders Up!” call as Derby runners leave the paddock.