LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Todd Pletcher watched the 2025 Kentucky Derby with family and friends from a hotel maybe 1 1/4 miles away from Churchill Downs. A participant in the race for 21 straight years – and a two-time winner – Pletcher’s lone Derby entrant, Grande, had been scratched the day before the race due to a cracked heel. “It was a strange feeling, I guess,” said Pletcher, whose 65 Derby starters is a record. “You do the best you can to try and prepare them and get them there and sometimes it doesn’t work out.” Pletcher, 58, is back in the $5 million Derby this year. While at one point it looked like he would have multiple participants – as he has in 20 Derbies – Pletcher is here with one, Renegade. But it might be the right one. Renegade’s victories in the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs in February and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in March stamp him as one of the contenders in what appears to be a deep field assembled for Kentucky Derby 152. “I’m excited to be back with a horse that I think has the right style to perform very well in the race,” Pletcher said. Renegade, a late-runner, drew the rail for the Kentucky Derby. No horse has won the 1 1/4-mile Derby from that post since Ferdinand in 1986. A 20-stall gate has replaced the two-gate system that had previously been in use. Still, horses starting from the rail in the new gate are 0 for 6, including two trained by Pletcher – Mo Donegal (fifth in 2022) and Known Agenda (ninth in 2021). Pletcher, who watched the replays of those races on Sunday morning, felt both horses were compromised by breaking from the rail. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. “Mo Donegal, I think was self-inflicted a little bit, he didn’t jump well,” Pletcher said. “Known Agenda broke okay and everybody came over and squeezed him back.” Irad Ortiz Jr. rode both Mo Donegal and Known Agenda. “Hopefully, some of that experience might help him out a little bit,” Pletcher said. Brad Cox is officially a Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with Mandaloun, who was elevated to first after the disqualification of Medina Spirit for a medication violation in 2021. Cox wants to experience a Derby victory in real time and appears to have three big chances to do just that. Further Ado is coming off an 11-length win in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland four weeks ago. Commandment has won four straight starts, including a nose victory over The Puma in the Grade 1 Florida Derby five weeks ago. Fulleffort is coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks six weeks ago. Further Ado, a son of Gun Runner owned by Spendthrift Farm, might be pegged as a Keeneland horse-for-course with two powerful victories there. However, Further Ado won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club here last year and his training at Churchill this week has Cox feeling confident. “He’s putting enough into his gallops and his attitude’s good, his weight’s great,” Cox said. “I feel positive we’ll get a big effort or as good an effort as we did at Keeneland. People talk about the bounce. I guess you could look at numbers and there are some figures where he could bounce and still win. At the end of the day, from watching the horse, it doesn’t seem like he’s regressed one bit at all. If anything, he’s moved forward.” Cox likes Further Ado’s post 18 draw because he wants a stalking trip just outside the speed. Expected speed horses Pavlovian, the Louisiana Derby runner-up, and Six Speed, second in the UAE Derby, are drawn in posts 16 and 17, respectively. Three-time Derby-winning jockey John Velazquez rides Further Ado. Commandment brings a four-race winning streak into the Derby, including victories in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby. Commandment, like Renegade, is a son of Into Mischief. “He’s got a lot of that stallion in him, with just the toughness and competitiveness he’s shown in the afternoon,” Cox said. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Strategies by Marcus Hersh and David Aragona. Full analysis and wager recommendations! Fulleffort, who has never raced on dirt, has been training super over Churchill’s main track. If he transfers that to the afternoon, he could be a live longshot. Last year, the Cox-trained Final Gambit finished fourth at 17-1 in the Derby, his first start on dirt. Three years after Mage won the Kentucky Derby, trainer Gustavo Delgado, jockey Javier Castellano, and some of the same owners are back with The Puma, who beat Further Ado in the Tampa Bay Derby and was beaten a nose by Commandment in the Florida Derby. After winning the Kentucky Derby with Sovereignty last year, trainer Bill Mott is back with Chief Wallabee looking to become the first repeat Derby winner since Bob Baffert in 1997-98. Chief Wallabee didn’t make it to the races until Jan. 10, but his maiden win – where he beat The Puma – followed by narrow defeats in the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby have brought the son of Constitution here with a chance. Mott, looking for just a little more focus from the colt, is adding blinkers to his equipment. “We trained him in the blinkers, we’ve had him in behind [horses], he’s perfectly relaxed in them, but yet when we asked him to pick it up he was very willing and accelerated very nicely with the blinkers and seemed to be maybe just a little more straight and a little more true,” Mott said. There will be another Mott in the Derby. Riley Mott, Bill’s 34-year-old son, has two in the race in Virginia Derby winner Incredibolt and Wood Memorial winner Albus. It would seem both have to get faster than they’ve shown to be a win contender. Both of Riley Mott’s horses are owned by Pin Oak Stud. Last May, Jim Bernhard, the owner of Pin Oak, died. His wife, Dana, and son Ben are now running the operation. The loss of a loved one also is part of the story involving the connections of Derby hopeful So Happy. Dena Glatt, the wife of Mark Glatt, trainer of So Happy, died Feb. 12 at the age of 57. It made the Santa Anita Derby an emotional victory for Glatt and the horse’s owners. So Happy will be piloted by Mike Smith, a two-time Derby winner who at age 59 will be looking to become the oldest jockey to win the race. Potente, trained by Baffert, finished second in the Santa Anita Derby. The first two of Baffert’s record-tying six Kentucky Derby victories came with horses who finished second in the Santa Anita Derby – Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998). “He was forced to be on the lead because he broke so well in the Santa Anita Derby, it took him out of his game,” Baffert said of Potente. “It’s good to have a good hard race to toughen them up.” A sharp five-furlong work in 57.77 seconds on Sunday is perhaps an indication of how Potente likes Churchill. Baffert also trains Litmus Test, who is adding blinkers following his seventh in the Arkansas Derby. Emerging Market, who is 2 for 2, including a narrow victory in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, is attempting to become the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby in just his third career start since Leonatus in 1883. Since 1937, only seven horses have come into the Derby with two or fewer starts, so the sample size is relatively small. “He’s shown a lot in those two starts, two close finishes. He was able to show a lot of determination and willingness to win, which I really like to see,” said Chad Brown, who trains the son of Candy Ride for Seth Klarman. “He’s very straight forward, great-minded horse, ton of ability, real handy mover. Although he’s lightly raced, he has so many positive attributes about him for a horse going into a race like this.” :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Clocker Reports by Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team Silent Tactic, trained by Mark Casse, comes out of a second-place finish to Renegade in the Arkansas Derby. Casse said his horse was dealing with a bruised foot in the weeks leading up to that race and expects an improvement Saturday. Trainer Cherie DeVaux is making her first Kentucky Derby appearance with Golden Tempo, a late-running type who was third in the Louisiana Derby. Right to Party, second in the Wood Memorial, looks to give Kenny McPeek a second Derby in three years. Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, has yet to regain his Grade 1-winning 2-year-old form. For the fourth straight year, Japan has two runners in the field with UAE Derby winner Wonder Dean and the undefeated Danon Bourbon, winner of the Fukuryu Stakes in Japan. Six Speed, a Saudi Arabia-based horse with U.S. breeding and owners, rounds out the field. There are four also-eligibles – Great White, Ocelli, Robusta, and Corona de Oro. They would need scratches to occur before 9 a.m. Friday to make it into the field. The Kentucky Derby will go as race 12 (approximate post 6:57 p.m. Eastern) on a fabulous 14-race card that begins at 11 a.m. The long-range forecast calls for partly sunny skies with high temperatures in the mid 60s. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.