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Commandment, under Irad Ortiz Jr., outfinished Chief Wallabee and Junior Alvarado to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes by a head at Gulfstream Park and punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby.
The filly Blanc de Blanc maintained her perfect record after two starts with a three-length win in Friday’s $47,200 Patton Race at Dundalk Racecourse in Ireland, part of the European-Middle East Kentucky Derby qualifying series.
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Plutarch, winner of the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 7 at Santa Anita, is off the Kentucky Derby trail, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday afternoon.
Hidden Force remained unbeaten after two starts with a comfortable win in Wednesday’s $81,000 European Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at Kempton Park in England.
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Kentucky Derby: Who's hot, who's not for Feb. 25, 2026
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Trainer Kenny McPeek is still perplexed over what happened regarding Blackout Time on the last Friday of October. It hasn't deterred him from trying to get the now 3-year-old colt to the grandest stage on the first Saturday in May.
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Owner John Oxley has Silent Tactic and Strategic Risk on deck for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Sunday at Oaklawn Park. The Mark Casse trainees have won the first two Kentucky Derby points races at the meet, with homebred Strategic Risk taking the $250,000 Smarty Jones in January and Silent Tactic winning the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest in February.
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Although his speed figures might be a little light and he’s yet to test stakes company, Jackson Hole has one item on his résumé that puts him in the conversation when talking about leading contenders for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth: He’s the only member of the field to have won a race around two turns.
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Blackout Time is by the versatile young sire Not This Time and hails from a very long-winded female family, with turf ability, which can be a harbinger of success on the Churchill Downs dirt.
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Great White, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial on Saturday night at Turfway Park, will make his next start in a major Kentucky Derby prep race in the Bluegrass State, but which race and track will be determined by how he trains over the next month.
