Espinoza to ride Bolt d'Oro in Kentucky Derby
Victor Espinoza, a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, will go for his fourth when he climbs aboard Bolt d'Oro in this year's running on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
Jay PrivmanApr 09, 2018
Victor Espinoza, a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, will go for his fourth when he climbs aboard Bolt d'Oro in this year's running on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has finalized two Kentucky Derby riding assignments as Javier Castellano committed to ride Audible and John Velazquez opted to stick with Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso.
There are just two more prep races for the Kentucky Derby to be run, both on Saturday, and a combination of factors has raised the likely point total need to make this year's field.
Justify is big and red and fast, with a wide white blaze that looks like part of a highway stripe. After two races aboard the son of Scat Daddy for Bob Baffert and a consortium of owners that reads like the Dow Industrials, jockey Mike Smith is convinced that of all his recent chances for Kentucky Derby glory, this one promises the most.
Betting on the Kentucky Derby could turn out to be very interesting. The undefeated Justify very likely made himself the favorite with his dazzling victory over Bolt d’Oro in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, but there are perhaps a half-dozen colts who could legitimately start at single-digit odds.
The victory by Justify in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday led bettors to make the colt a clear-cut favorite in the fourth and final pool in the 2018 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern following the customary three-day run.
Justify continued his rapid rise through the ranks of the nation’s best 3-year-olds by knocking off the highly accomplished Bolt d’Oro in the West’s major prep for the Kentucky Derby, and in the process earning the fastest Beyer Speed Figure in this year’s Derby preps.
In just 48 days, Justify has gone from an unstarted maiden to the winner of the Santa Anita Derby, and now he heads to the May 5 Kentucky Derby as the current favorite for the race. There’s potentially room for improvement, too, according to trainer Bob Baffert, who on Sunday morning here at Santa Anita said he had yet to “bear down” on Justify, saying everything to this point has been “done with raw talent.”
Despite their bumper-car battle in the stretch, Vino Rosso and Enticed emerged from Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial in good order and will proceed to Churchill Downs for the May 5 Kentucky Derby. However, both are expected to make a return trip to South Florida to prepare for the Run for the Roses.
The Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby picked up a new player over the weekend when Tampa Bay Derby winner Quip scratched from the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and rolled into the Oaklawn backstretch at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.