Churchill Downs Inc. had net income of $83.0 million in the first quarter of 2026, up 7.7 percent compared to net income in the first quarter last year, driven mostly by increased business at its casinos in Kentucky and Virginia, according to financial statements issued on Wednesday afternoon.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, April 22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp. 65°
Track: FastLOUISVILLE, Ky. – 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. All horses in both races are required to be on the grounds by 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Four weeks and six days after I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Kentucky Derby at odds of 15-1, his date with Triple Crown destiny came to an abrupt end when the horse, who also won the Preakness, had to be scratched from the Belmont Stakes due to a career-ending tendon injury.
Doug O’Neill, the trainer of I’ll Have Another, remembers calling Paul Reddam to convey the news.
WHO’S HOT
Chief Wallabee, in blinkers, had a super workout over the Churchill Downs main track on Monday which created a lot of buzz and in turn prompted Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona to lower the Florida Derby third-place finisher to 8-1 from 10-1 on his pre-draw morning-line.
The Puma, the Tampa Bay Derby winner and Florida Derby runner-up, was raised to 10-1 from 8-1. The Puma had his strongest move in a while last weekend at Gulfstream Park prior to shipping to Churchill.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Chief Wallabee bandwagon suddenly got a lot more crowded after the relatively inexperienced but extremely talented 3-year-old turned in his penultimate Kentucky Derby workout Monday at Churchill Downs.
Chief Wallabee was the lone Kentucky Derby contender to breeze Monday, doing so under clear but chilly skies at 7:30 a.m. during the special Derby/Oaks training session. The racetrack was on the quick side throughout the morning, perhaps even more so following the 7 a.m. renovation break.
Kathleen O’Connell won five races on Sunday’s nine-race card at Tampa Bay Downs, not only a personal best, but believed to be a one-day record by a trainer at the Oldsmar, Fla., track, which this year is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Jockey Samuel Marin also rode five winners on Sunday’s card, three of them for O’Connell. Marin now has 134 wins at the meet and is chasing Antonio Gallardo’s single-meet record of 147 set at the 2014-15 stand. There are two weeks, or eight racing days, remaining in Tampa’s meet, which ends May 3.
The Kentucky Derby bubble lost two, but picked up two horses over the weekend.
Nearly and Bravaro, who sit 23 and 24, respectively, on the Derby points list - and that’s with unlikely Derby starters Stark Contrast and Iron Honor still on that list - are no longer under Derby consideration, according to their connections.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Pavlovian will be ready for a fight should a speed duel develop in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.
“He doesn’t want anyone passing him,” jockey Edwin Maldonado said at Santa Anita on Sunday morning.
A few minutes earlier, Maldonado was aboard Pavlovian for the colt’s final workout in California before a scheduled departure to Kentucky on Tuesday.
Working in company with stablemate Robusta, Pavlovian went six furlongs in 1:15. Robusta was timed in 1:16.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Handicap hero White Abarrio left the Oaklawn Park backstretch around midday Sunday to return to Gulfstream Park, and his connections will soon start mapping out a plan to get him to either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
White Abarrio earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 111 for his two-length win in Saturday's Oaklawn Handicap, a Grade 2, $1.25 million race in which the 7-year-old shuttled through the stretch to defeat both reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty and last year’s Preakness winner, Journalism.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Horse of the Year Sovereignty has emerged from his runner-up finish in the fastest running of the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap in three decades in good order, according to his trainer, Bill Mott.
“He looked good,” Mott said Sunday. “We’re happy with him.”
The Saturday start was Sovereignty’s first at 4. He set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile race before finishing two lengths behind winner White Abarrio. The winner covered the distance on a fast track that took some morning rain in 1:47.49.
