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Trainer Todd Pletcher has been bringing horses to the Kentucky Derby for more than two decades. His 62 starters are a record. Never, though, has Pletcher brought to the world's most famous horse race as accomplished a group as he does for Saturday's 149th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
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Kentucky Derby Clocker Report: Derma Sotogake, Sun Thunder put in half-mile breezes.
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The four first-time trainers with a horse expected to start in this year's Kentucky Derby have sent out well over 20,000 starters combined in races around the globe, according to Equineline statistics. The three jockeys set to ride their first Derby have taken a leg up more than 21,000 times.
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Eclipse Award champion Forte was, to no surprise, installed as the morning-line favorite in a full starting gate of 20 for the Grade 1, $3 million Kentucky Derby, set to be contested for the 149th time on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
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Light rain was falling and temperatures were unseasonably cold once again when the racetrack opened for business at 5:15 a.m. Monday at Churchill Downs, with the trainers of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Oaks starters now in the process of putting the finishing touches on their preparations for the two big events now just days away.
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At the end of this first week of May – the first week of Mental Health Awareness Month – 20 people will wake up on a day they've been honing themselves for their entire lives. Later that day, the gates will open on the Kentucky Derby. For one jockey of 20, a thousand correct split-second moves in that imposing stampede will mean immortality. For 19 others, not so much.
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Ramon Vazquez has ridden Practical Move in his last three starts, wins in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. Each time, Practical Move won in the stalking manner that Vazquez yearns to deliver in the Kentucky Derby.
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After starting a Kentucky Derby horse in 2016, 2017, and 2018, trainer Keith Desormeaux had to wait five years for his next Derby runner, Confidence Game. Desormeaux, come Derby Day, will have waited 10 weeks to run Confidence Game back after the colt won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
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In 2022, Steve Asmussen trained Epicenter, the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Epicenter got a beautiful trip under Joel Rosario, then, flying up the rail came Rich Strike. Saturday, Asmussen will be back in the Derby with Disarm.
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When Secretariat arrived at Barn 42 at Churchill Downs a half-century ago, he had already put his name in the record books multiple times – remarkable, considering the run he was about to embark upon, beginning with shading two minutes in the Derby. The big red colt, racing as a homebred for Meadow Stables, was already the 1972 Horse of the Year and had already secured part of his future, syndicated for a record $6.08 million to stand at Claiborne Farm.
