:quality(75))
The 2026 Churchill Downs spring meeting does not open until Saturday but there was plenty of action out on the racetrack Friday morning, especially during the workout window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls, with four potential Derby starters and a handful of possible Oaks runners working in rapid-fire order.
:quality(75))
Mike Smith, a Hall of Fame jockey who has won the Kentucky Derby twice, was aboard So Happy for his final workout Friday at Churchill Downs in advance of next Saturday's 152nd Kentucky Derby. Smith guided So Happy through a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.38, per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.
:quality(75))
Michael and Jules Iavarone and Ira Rothblut’s TCC Stables have acquired an interest in Kentucky Derby contender The Puma. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed at this time.
:quality(75))
The inexact science of preparing a horse for a grueling race like the Kentucky Derby was never more on display than Thursday at Churchill Downs, with trainers using very diverse methods of bringing their 3-year-olds up to the big event. Even within their own barns.
:quality(75))
Silent Tactic finished four lengths behind Renegade in the Arkansas Derby four weeks ago, but it felt like the gap between the two 3-year-olds was larger than that. Mark Casse, the trainer of Silent Tactic, understands his horse has to run better than he did that day to compete with Renegade but he believes his horse will run better.
:quality(75))
Activity has definitely begun to pick up at Churchill Downs as more and more of the participants in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrive on a daily basis. The special Derby/Oaks training session Wednesday was the busiest it's been since put into play last week and became even a bit more special with a guest appearance by reigning Derby winner and Horse of the Year Sovereignty.
:quality(75))
Pundits may debate how realistic a chance Pavlovian has in the Kentucky Derby. But it would be amazing if trainer Doug O'Neill and owner Paul Reddam were to team up and win the race a third time. Only three owners and six trainers have ever won more than two Derbies.
:quality(75))
Kentucky Derby: Who's hot, who's not for April 22, 2026
:quality(75))
J. Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O'Neill have teamed to win the Kentucky Derby twice, in 2012 with I'll Have Another and 2016 with Nyquist. Their hopeful this year is California-bred homebred Pavlovian, whose sire and dam were both trained by O'Neill for Reddam.
:quality(75))
At Santa Anita on Monday, Potente, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up trained by Bob Baffert, was credited with a six-furlong workout in 1:13.40.
