LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Olympiad has won four straight races, three of them graded stakes - one Grade 3, two Grade 2. So, following his victory at Churchill Downs on Friday in the Alysheba Stakes, he’s got a bronze and two silvers. Now he’ll go for gold.

His trainer, Bill Mott, on Sunday morning said Olympiad’s main goal now is to knock off a Grade 1 race, and said the Whitney this summer at Saratoga is his likely target, with a potential race between now and then.

“I’d like to find something to get him to the Whitney,” Mott said. “But I haven’t thought much about it yet.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If veteran trainer Eric Reed had not been saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter on Saturday, “I promise you I would have been on the lake fishing.” 

Instead, Reed landed the big one on Saturday at Churchill Downs, as Rich Strike went from the Derby also-eligible list to the winner’s circle draped in roses as the second-biggest upset winner in race history. 

The morning after the improbable victory that Reed called “an absolute miracle,” the trainer was affably adjusting to the intense attention now centering on his barn. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Steve Asmussen was too much in shock to be disappointed.

“When they tell me this happened tomorrow, I’m still going to go ‘Are you sure?’ ” Asmussen, the trainer of Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter, said. “Really? Like, that’s what happened?"

What happened was Epicenter, the Kentucky Derby favorite, was passed to his inside by Rich Strike, at 80.80-1 the longest shot on the board in Saturday’s 148th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs, and was beaten three-quarters of a length. He finished that same margin in front of Zandon.

Betting on the Kentucky Oaks on Friday at Churchill Downs easily eclipsed the record for the race, according to a chart, after two years of posting depressed numbers during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the chart, total betting on the Oaks was $24.29 million, a 39.1 percent jump over last year’s handle of $17.46 million and a 25.9 percent gain over the record of $19.29 million set in 2019, the last time the Oaks was run without restrictions on attendance at Churchill.

NEW YORK – A jury in New York on Friday found the equine supplements distributor Lisa Giannelli guilty of conspiracy to misbrand and adulterate drugs after an eight-day trial.

The jury of eight men and four women in U.S. District Court in New York returned the verdict after less than two hours of deliberations spanning two days.

Giannelli, 55, of Felton, Del., faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison at her sentencing Sept. 8 before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There are many ways to approach your first Kentucky Derby.

Jockey Reylu Gutierrez didn’t have much time to dwell on it, spending a busy month of April riding at Keeneland before moving his tack to Churchill Downs for the current meet. The philosophy of the jockey, 26, is to keep his focus on each horse he gets on, and do his homework for each one.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Scratch time for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrived Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern at Churchill Downs with the 11th-hour defection of Ethereal Road from the Derby, allowing Rich Strike (No. 21) to fill his spot in post position 20. Rattle N Roll (No. 22), the other also-eligible, also is scratched.

Kentucky chief steward Barbara Borden said trainer D. Wayne Lukas phoned the scratch of Ethereal Road into the Churchill racing office and that the colt was not scratched by the state veterinarian.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ethereal Road was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Friday morning, allowing the first also-eligible, Rich Strike, to get in.

Ethereal Road drew post 20 when posts were drawn on Monday. Rich Strike moves into that spot now. Rattle N Roll, the other also-eligible, is scratched.

Scratch time for both Oaks Day on Friday and Derby Day on Saturday was Friday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern.

NEW YORK – Jury deliberations began Thursday in the federal trial of Lisa Giannelli, an equine supplements distributor who has been accused of misbranding and adulterating drugs sold to Thoroughbred and Standardbred trainers.

The jury of eight men and four women sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York began deliberations late in the day and met for about 30 minutes before going home for the night. Deliberations are scheduled to resume Friday.

Fixed-odds betting on horse racing in the U.S. is set to finally become a reality with the Saturday opening of Monmouth Park in New Jersey, but the track plans to take baby steps as it works out the kinks throughout the meet, according to track officials.