For 21 consecutive years there wasn’t a Kentucky Derby run in which Todd Pletcher didn’t have a starter. Until 2025. Thirty-six hours before the race, Grande, who had finished second in the Wood Memorial four weeks earlier, was scratched due to a cracked heel in his right front foot. Grande was Pletcher’s only entrant in a race in which he started multiple starters 20 of 24 years in which he ran. Thus, the longest streak of consecutive Derby appearances was over. “Twenty-one years down the drain,” Pletcher remembers telling someone after the scratch. “I knew at the beginning of the season we had a weak hand. Almost got there with Grande, but it wasn’t meant to be. . . . It’s still disappointing not to get there, but didn’t fret over it too much, to be honest.” As the road to the 2026 Kentucky Derby ratchets up, Pletcher looks to start a new streak. While he announced Jan. 29 that winter-book Derby favorite Ted Noffey, the 2025 champion 2-year-old male, will miss the Triple Crown due to bone bruising, it didn’t take long for Pletcher to find at least one potential Derby starter. Last Saturday, Nearly vaulted to the top of Pletcher’s Derby prospects with a 5 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes. That performance, coupled with Mother Nature forcing the delay of other Derby preps, puts Nearly at the top of Daily Racing Form’s initial Derby Watch of 2026. Daily Racing Form handicapper David Aragona pegged Nearly as a lukewarm 10-1 favorite 12 weeks out from Kentucky Derby 152 on May 2 at Churchill Downs. Nearly, a son of Not This Time, has won three consecutive races and will now, most likely, not race again until the Florida Derby on March 28. “He’s handled them great, he’s held his weight really well,” Pletcher said this week. “He’s a good-feeling colt. I wouldn’t call him high energy, but he feels good. Mentally and physically, he’ll handle the time between races, but other than just trying to be smart and space him out, keeping in mind we want to hopefully peak in May, running two more times is probably not the right move.” :: DRF's Derby Watch Top 20 | Who's hot, who's not | Pedigree profile: Nearly Nearly has come a long way since his debut on Oct. 26, when he finished last of six in a maiden race at Aqueduct. It’s a race that still has Pletcher scratching his head. “Most disappointing debut of any horse we had last year based on the way he had trained into it,” Pletcher said. Pletcher has won the Derby twice – Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (2017) – and holds the record for most starters with 65 in 24 Derbies. His 31 Triple Crown nominees lead all trainers in 2026. Nearly is one of three Derby prospects Pletcher has on this week’s Derby Watch top 20. Renegade and Courting are the other two, while Jackson Hole is knocking on the door. Renegade is still a maiden because he was disqualified from first when he and Paladin brushed late in an Oct. 17 maiden race. Renegade came back and finished second to Paladin in the Grade 2 Remsen on Dec. 6 at Aqueduct. Courting has yet to live up this $5 million purchase price, having one win from three starts, but has a sparkling pedigree – by Curlin out of the Grade 1-winning mare Cavorting. Courting finished fourth in the Remsen. Pletcher believes both Renegade, who runs in Saturday’s Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, and Courting, who will start in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 14, had troubled trips in the Remsen. “Rough start, a lot of bumping and positioning going on,” Pletcher said. “Courting got squeezed back to last, Renegade got stuck out real wide. But I thought both of them ran well, and both of them finished a mile and an eighth with the kind of interest you’d like to see to give you optimism going forward.” Pletcher also plans to run Epic Desire, a recent maiden winner at Tampa, in the Sam F. Davis. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Jackson Hole, who is 2 for 2 for Pletcher, will point to the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 28 at Gulfstream. Though Jackson Hole had won an allowance at Fair Grounds, the decision to run at Gulfstream was made even before Ted Noffey was sidelined, as the connections did not want to ship for a second straight time. There figures to be plenty of movement on the Derby trail this week, with four points-scoring races scheduled over Friday and Saturday. The Southwest at Oaklawn and the Withers at Aqueduct will both be held Friday after those tracks were forced to cancel last weekend due to weather. The Southwest will lose its morning-line favorite as Litmus Test didn’t ship from California because trainer Bob Baffert said he felt the horse needed more time. He is now pointing to the San Felipe on March 7 at Santa Anita. Baffert still plans to run Buetane in the Southwest. Buetane finished second to Ted Noffey in the Grade 1 Hopeful last summer and second to So Happy in the Grade 2 San Vicente in January. He will take on a field that includes Smarty Jones Stakes one-two finishers Strategic Risk and Silent Tactic, both trained by Mark Casse. Buetane and Litmus Test are two of 23 horses Baffert has nominated to the Triple Crown. Three of them – Desert Gate, Plutarch, and Cherokee Nation – are entered in Saturday’s Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita. Intrepido, a Grade 1-winning 2-year-old for trainer Jeff Mullins, is set to make his 3-year-old debut in the Lewis. Baffert, a six-time Kentucky Derby winner, said his 3-year-olds are a bit behind and the races in March are when he believes he’ll have a better feel for who could make the Derby. Brant, a Grade 1-winning 2-year-old who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, has had just two workouts this year. Baffert said he hopes to make the Rebel on March 1 at Oaklawn with him. Eight horses were entered in the Withers, led by Chad Brown’s pair of maiden winners Ottinho and Schoolyardsuperman and the Butch Reid-trained Mailata, a two-time minor stakes winner. The field for Saturday’s Sam F. Davis at Tampa is the other points-scoring race of the weekend. Renegade and Confessional are expected top a field of between seven and nine runners. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. These four stakes are part of 36 races that Churchill Downs has designated as points-scoring races for the North American road to the Kentucky Derby. The field for the Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters, though 24 may enter, with four being designated also-eligibles. If more than 20 horses enter – which has been the case in 24 of the last 27 years – the field is determined based on points earned in those designated races. The top 17 point earners in North American-based races earn a spot in the Derby field. Churchill reserves two spots for horses based in Europe or the Middle East based on points earned in a series of select races. That series, for the second straight year, includes the U.A.E. Derby, a race in Dubai that had prior to 2025 been part of America’s primary road to the Derby. Churchill Downs also holds one spot for the horse who earns the most points in selected races in Japan. In each of the last three years, at least two Japan-based horses have been entered in the Kentucky Derby. If the Japan or Euro/Mideast horses don’t take those spots, the next highest point earners in the United States can get into the Derby. There have been 14 different winners of the 15 North American points-qualifying races run to date. Ted Noffey, who won two of them, and Spice Runner, who won the Iroquois, are already out of Derby consideration. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.