Unbeaten Arkansas Derby winner Magnum Moon will be chasing the ghost of Apollo on Saturday evening – and also chasing a double for sire Malibu Moon.
Of the 14 stallions likely to be represented by Kentucky Derby starters, only Malibu Moon has sired a Derby winner. That was Orb in 2013.
Justify and Vino Rosso will stand in the Kentucky Derby starting gate together Saturday afternoon, but it won’t be the first time the two chestnuts have been in close proximity. The colts were born just one day apart at John Gunther and daughter Tanya Gunther’s Glennwood Farm, which raised them and sold them days apart as yearlings.
But the Gunthers could be forgiven if their attention is divided between Kentucky and England on Saturday, because Glennwood homebred Without Parole could also chase classic glory this weekend in the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Kentucky Derby contender Bolt d’Oro is named for world-record-setting sprinter Usain Bolt, who was adding to his gold-medal tally at the 2016 Rio Olympics the month the colt was purchased by owner and trainer Mick Ruis at Saratoga.
The fingerprints of Gainesway’s past and present can be found all over this year’s Kentucky Oaks.
Nowhere are they imprinted deeper than with Ashland Stakes runner-up Eskimo Kisses, who is co-campaigned as a homebred by Gainesway, the Lexington, Ky., operation of Antony Beck. Eskimo Kisses will attempt to emulate the success of another prominent Gainesway resident who won a big race at Churchill Downs in early May, her granddam Winning Colors, who triumphed in the 1988 Kentucky Derby.
The Kentucky Derby is not only a test of speed and stamina – it is a test of mental fortitude for a young horse, with the pressure cooker culminating in the “wall of sound” as the field turns for home in front of more than 160,000 at Churchill Downs. Mendelssohn has shown the speed and stamina, and his breeders think he has the mental fortitude to handle the stress of the May 5 Derby.
Combatant
Scat Daddy-Border Dispute, by Boundary
Bred in Kentucky by Blandford Stud ($320,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds)
Led by international standout Donner, a number of Thoroughbred ex-racehorses will contest North America’s most prestigious three-day event, the Land Rover Kentucky CCI four-star, beginning Thursday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.
Nessy posted his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita on Sunday – 24 hours after his Grade 1-winning older full brother Bullards Alley was fatally injured in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes on Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.
Both geldings are by classic sire Flower Alley, who now stands in South Africa, and out of the stakes-winning Kris S. mare Flower Forest.
Who was the best American racehorse never to win a championship? One of the heroes of my racing youth, 1957 Belmont Stakes winner Gallant Man has long been mentioned as a horse obviously superior to many who earned official championships. Like Gallant Man, Ancient Title, Best Pal, Exceller, Gun Bow, Majestic Prince, Native Diver, Precisionist, and Swoon’s Son were all deemed good enough for the Racing Hall of Fame, but never earned an official championship on the racetrack.
Delhomme, a Grade 2 winner, has relocated to A & A Ranch in Anthony, N.M., where he will stand for an advertised fee of $1,500.
The 8-year-old son of Dixie Union previously stood at Born Running Ranch in Deming, N.M., where he entered stud in 2014.
Delhomme’s first foals are 3-year-olds of 2018. He has sired four winners from six starters for combined progeny earnings of $54,438.
