This Saturday, after a one-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Kentucky Derby will be held on its traditional date. Tens of thousands of rowdy fans will once again gather under the famed twin spires of Churchill Downs in Louisville to celebrate the first Saturday in May and the rough-and-tumble 1 1/4-mile race that is synonymous with it. But don't call it “normal.”
On his march to becoming Thoroughbred racing's all-time winningest trainer – a goal he will likely achieve this fall – the one race that has eluded Steve Asmussen is the Kentucky Derby. Saturday, Asmussen will take another crack at the coveted prize when he sends out Super Stock, the Arkansas Derby winner, and Midnight Bourbon, the Louisiana Derby runner-up, in the 146th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Tyler Gaffalione finally took a leg up on Soup and Sandwich for the colt's penultimate Kentucky Derby breeze on April 17 at Churchill Downs. It was the moment he'd been waiting for since Jan. 28, when he watched the gray colt win his debut by 7 1/4 lengths under Irad Ortiz Jr. at Gulfstream Park.
Among those who welcomed the elevation of the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby at Turfway into a 100-point Kentucky Derby prep after Churchill Downs's acquisition of the track was Kentucky trainer Wesley Ward, who would rather stay home than chase points on the road. Ward did just that with Like the King, who won the Jeff Ruby and goes next in the Kentucky Derby.
Like the King is looking for his first victory on dirt in the Kentucky Derby, and Wesley Ward will be saddling the colt as his first starter in the classic. But Ward has someone in his camp who knows the ins and outs of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby well, and who has given him additional confidence that his colt's synthetic and turf abilities could be an asset.
Catch the Moon has already established herself as a star broodmare. A win by her son Midnight Bourbon in the Kentucky Derby would put her in the stratosphere.
Trainer Brad Cox’s Kentucky Derby contingent was reduced by one Sunday morning when Caddo River was withdrawn from Derby consideration.
How quiet was life on the Kentucky Derby watch Sunday at Churchill Downs? So quiet, the highlight of the morning for many was the sight of a rather chunky possum scooting across the racetrack as Medina Spirit turned into the stretch amid his gallop during the Derby/Oaks training session.
Before trainer Steve Asmussen sent his two Kentucky Oaks runners, Clairiere and Pauline’s Pearl, out to work at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, one of Asmussen’s two Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Midnight Bourbon, had a spirited gallop under exercise rider Wilson Fabian.
Top California jockey Flavien Prat has ridden Hot Rod Charlie once, finishing fifth as the 2-1 favorite in a maiden race on turf at Del Mar last September. A lot has changed since then for Hot Rod Charlie.
