LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fair Grounds Oaks winner Tarifa drew a trainer-pleasing post 8 in a full field and has been installed as the 7-2 morning-line favorite for the 150th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks Friday at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fourteen hours before post positions were to be drawn for the 150th Kentucky Derby, a serious contender officially joined the party.
Encino, just two weeks after winning the Lexington Stakes to earn enough points to make the field, sealed his connections’ decision to run in next week’s Kentucky Derby with a superb five-furlong workout shortly after 5:15 a.m. Saturday.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Friday, April 26
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 51
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky – Fierceness was unquestionably the center of attention Friday morning at Churchill Downs, and the reigning juvenile champion certainly did not disappoint his ever-growing legion of supporters. He likely cemented his status as the Kentucky Derby favorite with an eye-catching work moments after the start of the special Derby-Oaks training session at 7:30 a.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For nearly a quarter of a century, the trainer-jockey team of Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez was arguably the most successful in racing. The duo combined to win 1,866 races – including a Kentucky Derby in 2017 with Always Dreaming and a Belmont Stakes with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007 – and more than $163 million in purse money.
In recent years, the two have found more of their success with other partners. But for Kentucky Derby 150, the band is back together.
Dan Illman, a reporter, handicapper, and executive producer of Daily Racing Form’s video production, has been named the recipient of the 2024 Old Hilltop Award, which is given by the Maryland Jockey Club to honor journalists who cover the sport with “excellence and distinction.”
Illman will be presented the award at the May 16 Alibi Breakfast, an annual event held in the week leading up to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It comes as no shock to Whit Beckman that the first time he has a horse as a trainer in the Kentucky Derby, two of his biggest impediments to success are Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
Before going out on his own in 2021, Beckman worked as an assistant to both Pletcher and Brown. He was a New York-based assistant to Pletcher when the now Hall of Fame trainer won his first Derby with Super Saver in 2010. Beckman worked for Brown when that trainer won his first Preakness with Cloud Computing in 2017.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Thursday, April 25
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 45
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisiana Derby runner-up Honor Marie showed off a somewhat surprising turn of speed Thursday morning at Churchill Downs while at the same time kicking off what promises to be an extremely busy several days on the Kentucky Derby workout watch. Honor Marie completed five furlongs in a bullet 59.13 seconds under clear and crisp skies on a racetrack yielding relatively faster than usual times.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals has denied a motion for temporary injunction that would have allowed Muth, owned by Amr Zedan, to start in the Kentucky Derby despite a ban on the horse’s trainer, Bob Baffert.
The ruling, issued late on Wednesday, upheld a decision last week by a Circuit Court judge to deny the injunction. Zedan filed his initial lawsuit on April 3, two days after Muth won the Arkansas Derby, in a last-ditch bid to get a court to allow the horse into the Derby field.
Revenue from historical horse-racing machines operated by Churchill Downs Inc. in Kentucky and Virginia continued to grow in the first quarter of 2024, while revenue from the company’s traditional casinos in maturing markets stagnated, according to financial documents released by the company on Wednesday.
