Churchill is teaming with its sister company, Twinspires.com, to offer pick-six pool guarantees on Oaks and Derby Days. The Oaks pool is guaranteed at $250,000 and the Derby at $1 million.
Wesley Ward isn’t wishing misfortune on anyone, but that’s the only way Pablo Del Monte – the lone also-eligible in Derby 140 – can actually make the race.
Woodbine will host a Kentucky Derby handicapping seminar ahead of the first jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday.
Trainer Gary Contessa had Uncle Sigh stretch his legs over a muddy Churchill Downs track Wednesday, and the Withers and Gotham stakes runner-up went a half-mile for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby in a quicker-than-anticipated 52.70 seconds.
New York Giants executive Chris Mara is a partner in Starlight Racing, a racing syndicate that will send out Intense Holiday in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. Starlight this week also purchased an ownership interest in General a Rod, so Mara essentially has a draft pick and a free-agent acquisition in the Derby.
We know how many Kentucky Derby contenders have earned Beyer Speed Figures that are in the vicinity of what it will take to win the race Saturday. Knowing which horse is going to earn the winning Beyer is quite a bit more complicated.
About a decade ago, Ron Winchell decided that instead of parceling out each year’s horses to several trainers, he would give them all to one trainer. That trainer has trained every Winchell runner ever since. His name is Steve Asmussen.
The book on Gary Stevens is that he tends to like every horse he’s ever ridden, describing some of them as champions in the making while others brush perilously close to being nothing less than the second coming of Man o’ War.
Were it not for the fact that he was the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes, Sir Barton’s name most likely would be buried in the pages of history.
Four of the top five horses in the 2014 Kentucky Derby field, as measured by Derby qualifying points, were foaled outside of Kentucky.
