LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Repole last Saturday stood outside trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn to talk about his Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness after he came off the track following a training session. The mood was much more jovial than when Repole stood in a similar spot 51 weeks earlier.
1875 – Hal Price McGrath’s Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with Oliver Lewis aboard for trainer Ansel Williamson. The first Derby is run at 1 1/2 miles.
1882 – Apollo wins the Derby without having run as a 2-year-old. No other horse would accomplish that feat – “the curse of Apollo” – until Justify 136 years later.
1913 – Donerail takes the Derby at a shocking 91-1, to this day the longest odds ever for a Kentucky Derby winner.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Can one really, truly know what it might feel like to participate in their first Kentucky Derby? Trainer Larry Demeritte, who has chased the Derby dream all the way from the Bahamas, has been doing his best for many years to be prepared when that call comes to make the walkover from the stable area.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tapit Jenallie was withdrawn from the Kentucky Oaks on Thursday morning, allowing first also-eligible Our Pretty Woman to draw into the race.
Trainer Eddie Milligan told Churchill Downs publicity that he was scratching Tapit Jenallie due to a minor injury.
"She’s having a little problem with her back end, and we felt like she’s just too nice of a filly to do anything detrimental to her health," Milligan said. "We’re going to give her a little more time, maybe a 30-day break, let her eat some grass, then re-evaluate and see what we need to do."
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, May 1
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 58 degrees
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The final countdown has begun to Oaks and Derby 2024 with the goal for the connections of all contenders to just keep their horses happy and sound until their respective races on Friday and Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dornoch has dealt with a foot issue known as a quarter crack through most of his career. Given his race record – three wins and two seconds from six starts – it has not been an impediment to success.
Noted farrier Ian McKinlay has examined Dornoch before each of his last three races – starting with the Grade 2 Remsen last December, which he won – and has done whatever work necessary to have the foot in racing condition. On Wednesday, McKinlay was at Churchill Downs where he laced, with wires, the top part of the crack, which is on the right front foot.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The first thing that happens when someone breeds a Thoroughbred racehorse is they wait. It will take at least two years, bare minimum, from the time a foal hits the ground until it races. Buy a yearling, in September, say, and months and months of waiting still lie ahead. And after all that waiting, how many owners and breeders in an age of instant gratification want to wait some more, while a horse figures out how to race, how to win?
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Encino, the Lexington Stakes winner, has been withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby due to a soft tissue strain in his right front leg, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday afternoon.
The scratch of Encino allows Epic Ride into the field and leaves Mugatu one deep on the also-eligible list. Encino drew post 9. Horses that were drawn in posts 10 through 20 will now move in one spot. Mugatu would need a scratch by 9 a.m. Friday to get into the race.
