LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Oaks favorite Good Cheer has won all six of her starts by a combined 42 1/2 lengths and has answered plenty of questions along the way. Winning at Churchill Downs? Check. Winning on a sloppy track? Check. Also falling in her favor – connections who know how to win this race and a favorable post position draw.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A year removed from a Kentucky Derby he wasn’t keen to participate in, trainer Michael McCarthy is right where he wants to be coming into Saturday’s 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

McCarthy, 54, is here with Journalism, winner of four straight races including the Santa Anita Derby, a résumé that makes him the unquestioned favorite in the world’s most famous horse race.

Xy Speed, a 9-year-old gelding trained by Michael Lerman, will break from the rail in the eighth race Thursday at Gulfstream Park, a $58,000 turf allowance. The five-furlong race will be an opportunity for him to bounce back from a handicap defeat in early April that Lerman believes the gelding should have won if not for a brutal trip.

“We’re just trying to put all that behind us last time, otherwise he would have another win,” Lerman said. “He’s doing very well. He’s as classy and happy a 9-year-old as can be.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Effortlesslyelgant appears to be sitting on a nice move forward Thursday, when she makes her second start of the season in the $145,000 Majestic overnight stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The six-furlong race drew 11 fillies and mares, including Gray Lightning, a new face to the market after running third in last year’s Jersey Girl at Saratoga. Stakes-placed Itzel and Absinthe will also get good support as both have won at the distance this meet, while Popperina owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, an 82.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Monday, April 28
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 58
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –The California contingent to this year’s Kentucky Derby is a small but potent one, led by morning-line favorite Journalism. The group also includes reigning juvenile champion Citizen Bull, Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez, and Santa Anita Derby runner-up Baeza, who still needs a late scratch to draw into the 20-horse field.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Major Dude won an allowance race at Keeneland in October and won the Fort Lauderdale Stakes on Dec. 21 at Gulfstream Park. Never rate a horse solely on his triumphs. Major Dude showed at least as much finishing fourth March 29 in the Appleton Stakes at Gulfstream as he had winning, and that defeat could lead to another win Thursday at Churchill Downs in the $350,000 Opening Verse Stakes.

The Opening Verse, a one-mile grass contest, drew 10 entrants but no more than nine will start with the connections of Mercante opting for the Turf Classic here Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – He used to be anxious about it. Then he got defensive. Now, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen seems somewhat philosophical about the fact he has yet to win the Kentucky Derby.

Asmussen, North America’s winningest trainer with 10,861 career victories, has started 26 horses in 18 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. He has three seconds and two thirds.