Attendees of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby cards at Churchill Downs in Louisville this year will no longer be able to get back into the track if they leave, a measure Churchill is putting in place to prevent counterfeit sales of tickets and wrist bracelets, the company said on Thursday.
Three of the main contenders are fresh off maiden victories, which seems to say plenty about the 34th running of the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes on Saturday.
The well-seasoned Far Right has successfully stretched out to win both of his starts this year, first taking the Smarty Jones Stakes at a mile and then winning the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. The ridgling will go 1 1/8 miles for the first time in Saturday’s Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Far Right has established himself as a prominent Kentucky Derby contender by outrunning a pedigree that suggests added distance will be a stiff challenge.
Before he heads to Kentucky, Frosted is going to his old south Florida home.Frosted, the winner of last Saturday’s Grade 1, $985,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, was to be flown to south Florida on Wednesday and will prepare for the May 2 Kentucky Derby at the Palm Meadows training center, where he has been based the last four months.
The champion American Pharoah arrived Wednesday at Oaklawn Park and not long afterward drew post 6 in a field of eight for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. He was installed the 1-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s race.
The Kentucky Derby preps are to the Kentucky Derby as the National Hockey League regular season is to the NHL playoffs. It is a months-long grind that began last fall, it ends on Saturday, and it involves quite a bit of scoreboard watching to see who’s in and who’s out.
Danzig Moon, second in the Blue Grass, and Tencendur, second in the Wood Memorial, both secured spots in the May 2 Kentucky Derby by virtue of the 40 points they earned last Saturday.
Let’s make this an annual event. I am sitting on press row at the Final Four. The Santa Anita Derby appears on my laptop during the first half of the first game of semifinals. The horse I have been touting for a month is favored. And nearly runs off my screen. Last year, it was California Chrome; this year, Dortmund.
Mary Rampellini ranks the top 3-year-old males and fillies pointing to races at Oaklawn Park.
Far Right has a diverse cast of people working behind the scenes to bring out the best in the multiple stakes winner, who could start as the second choice to Southern California shipper American Pharoah in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday.
