CHURCHILL DOWNS
Friday, April 24
Weather: Sunny
Temp. 67°
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – 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 7:15-7:30 workout window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls, their workmates, and 2025 Derby winner Sovereignty.
One could argue that if Ciborio had stayed at Gulfstream Park for his entire juvenile campaign, his maiden victory might already be well behind him. But in two starts at Kentucky Downs last year, the colt showed trainer Jose D’Angelo more in defeat than he might have with a softer victory.
“He’s doing very well,” D’Angelo said. “I’m very sure that he’s going to run good.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If So Happy were a professional athlete, he might be akin to Allen Iverson, the NBA All-Star who had a disdain for practice.
Practice? Don’t talk to So Happy about practice.
“You wouldn’t buy him out of a sale breezing,” Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame jockey who has been So Happy’s regular rider, said Friday morning.
With regard to the question, “What have you done for me lately,” the answer is “nothing” for five of the eight entrants in the featured sixth race Sunday at Churchill Downs.
Open to third-level allowance horses or $100,000 claimers and carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on grass, the Sunday feature drew five horses who haven’t started since 2025. A sixth, Alder, last raced Feb. 18 while coming off a two-month break.
Only Amoudi Bay and Autodrive have started in the last six weeks, and either of those two could have a say.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Anakarina was a dominant winner of her last start. A repeat performance might make her difficult to handle Sunday in the $135,000 Majestic.
“If she runs that race back, she’s going to be tough,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.
If the weather allows, Ultimate Love will make her long-awaited 3-year-old debut as a daunting figure in the $150,000 Memories of Silver Stakes at a mile on turf Sunday at Aqueduct. The beaten favorite in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf started her career with three straight wins and will ship to New York for the first time.
“There are some pretty solid types in there, but I think she’s a good fit,” trainer Michael Trombetta said. “I’m worried about the weather. They’re calling for some rain this weekend, so we’ll have to play it all out and see how it goes.”
Almost exactly a year ago, Owen Almighty stuck his head in front at the quarter pole of the Kentucky Derby.
“It’s indescribable,” Hunter Rankin, president for Travis Boersma’s Flying Dutchmen stable, said of Owen Almighty’s Derby run. “I don’t think any of us could have realized the weight of that race and the thrill of having a chance at the top of the stretch.”
The most exciting aspect of Daryz starting in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris is that he is still an active racehorse.
Daryz won the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s leading flat race, at Longchamp last October. From 2019 to 2024, five of the six winners of the Arc did not start again after their wins in the big race. The exception in that span is 2021 winner Torquator Tasso, who raced in 2022 and finished third in the Arc that year.
Finger Lakes looks to continue its growth as it kicks off its 65th season of live Thoroughbred racing on Monday.
Finger Lakes, an important part of the New York-bred ecosystem, has scheduled 91 days for this season. Racing will be conducted on Mondays and Tuesdays for the first two weeks of the season, allowing for better field sizes with the existing horse population and carding races at 4 1/2 furlongs as many locals work their way back out of a winter layoff. The track then adds cards for its regular Monday-Wednesday schedule through Nov. 25.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Big fields and low takeout combine for an appealing all-turf pick three Sunday at Santa Anita – 11 runners in each leg, 15 percent takeout.
The daily wager on the final three turf races has become one of the most attractive options at Santa Anita. Since the start of the winter meet in December, the median payoff – half higher, half lower – for the $3 wager has been $426, while the average pool has been more than $83,000.
