Improbable, Instagrand get new riders

Jose Ortiz will take over as the rider on Improbable when he makes his final start before the Kentucky Derby in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 13 at Oaklawn Park, said Elliott Walden, the president and chief executive of co-owner WinStar Farm, on Tuesday.

Improbable won all three of his starts last year, including the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity. He suffered the first loss of his career in his most-recent start, his first start at 3, when narrowly losing a division of the Rebel at Oaklawn. He has been ridden in all his starts by Drayden Van Dyke.

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Instagrand is being pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 6, and Flavien Prat will be his rider if he goes there, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Tuesday.

"That's our plan as of this moment," Hollendorfer said.

Instagrand was ridden by Javier Castellano in his only start at 3, the Gotham at Aqueduct on March 9, but Castellano has opted to ride Vekoma in the Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 6.

Instagrand was third in the Gotham, his first start in nearly seven months. He won both his starts last year at age 2. The 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby would be his first race around two turns.