LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than a half-dozen horses who contested last year’s Kentucky Derby or Oaks are back to compete at Churchill Downs this Derby week. The first to pop up is Honor Marie in Wednesday’s $200,000 Isaac Murphy Marathon. And while the question for many heading into the Derby is if they can go the 1 1/4 miles, trainer Whit Beckman wanted to go even longer with his charge. He finally gets the chance in this 1 1/2-mile race.

History says that a horse with a turf background or pedigree can run well on the Churchill Downs dirt, including in the Kentucky Derby. Animal Kingdom made his first start on dirt winning the 2011 Derby, and 2006 hero Barbaro had been a stakes winner on turf as a juvenile before moving to dirt. Big Brown (2008), Mine That Bird (2009), and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (2015) also were early-career winners on turf or synthetic surfaces before moving to dirt.

Tiz the Law was a Grade 1 winner at age 2 who won a classic at 3. Those closest to him in his current career as a stallion say his progeny show similar progression, and that means exciting things could be in store for Tiztastic, who represents his sire’s first crop in the Kentucky Derby.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Friday, April 25
Weather: Showery
Temperature: 62
Track: Sealed/Good

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mother Nature was the main story Friday at Churchill Downs, where rain that began the previous afternoon and continued into the morning hours altered training plans for many barns, most notably those with horses pointing to next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Caliente Star and owner Jama Lopez have never lost a race, and trainer Tammy Hornsby is hoping that will still be the case following the $150,000 Natural State on Sunday at Oaklawn Park.

But no pressure.

“No, none at all,” quipped Hornsby.

Caliente Star, the first horse owned by Lopez, will be putting a 3 for 3 record on the line in the Natural State. The one-mile race, which ends at the sixteenth pole, is for fillies and mares bred in Arkansas.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer George Weaver handicapped the weather perfectly when laying out his final workout plans for his Kentucky Oaks candidate Five G. Choosing instead to complete her preparations in South Florida at Palm Beach Downs, rather than dodging raindrops and dealing with a wet racetrack like so many of his colleagues were forced to do Friday and likely Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Five G breezed four furlongs in 49.60 seconds per Weaver on Thursday morning in relative anonymity at her winter home before boarding a van for a soggy Louisville the following morning.

Great Venezuela, a 4-year-old filly trained by Victor Barboza Jr., has won five of her last six starts and will be the likely favorite in the $70,000 Golden Beach on Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The overnight handicap will be run at five furlongs on turf, an ideal spot for the stakes winner who has big plans this season.

“The principal plan for the last month was to go to New York, but she’s Florida-bred, and the owners told me they preferred to not move her now,” Barboza said. “They preferred to run her at Gulfstream.”