A. Stevens Miles Jr., a retired banker and successful Thoroughbred owner and breeder, died April 29 in Louisville, Ky. He was 85.

A Louisville native, Miles began his career in banking with the First National Bank of Louisville in 1954 after serving in the Army. He became president of the company 18 years later, and was elected CEO of the bank and its holding company First Kentucky National Corporation in 1974. The holding company merged with National City Corporation and Miles was elected president of National City in 1987, a position which he held until his retirement in 1990.

Every win counts when trying to prove out a young stallion, but some wins count for a bit more.

Pioneerof the Nile received arguably the biggest resume boost an emerging sire can get on Saturday when his son American Pharoah pulled away from Firing Line to win the Kentucky Derby by a length.

American Pharoah’s victory was especially redeeming for owner/breeder Ahmed Zayat, who watched his homebred Pioneerof the Nile run second to Mine That Bird in the 2009 Derby.

The Kentucky Derby marked a major coup for young stallions. Winner American Pharoah hails from the second crop of Pioneerof the Nile; runner-up Firing Line is a first-crop representative for Line of David; and third-place finisher Dortmund is from the third crop of Big Brown.

When a stallion prospect retires to the breeding shed, he goes in with the hope that his first foals are capable of winning major races in the spring four years later.

Lovely Maria did just that for her sire Majesticperfection, winning the Kentucky Oaks on Friday by 2 ¾ lengths and giving the stallion a signature victory from his first crop.

Few if any broodmares of the 1970s and 1980s have spread their genes quite so effectively through their female line as foundation mare Best in Show. Bred in Kentucky by Philip Connors, Best in Show, by Traffic Judge out of Stolen Hour, by Mr. Busher, was purchased for $25,000 by Norman Woolworth’s Clearview Stable at the 1966 Keeneland July sale.

Sky Classic, a Canadian Hall of Famer, champion in the United States., and sire of 1999 Canadian Horse of the Year Thornfield, died Thursday in his paddock at Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Ky.

A 28-year-old son of Nijinsky II, Sky Classic was pensioned in January, and stood at Pin Oak Stud since 1993.

Grade 1 winner Can the Man will join Jimmy Creed and Warrior’s Reward among the sires that comprise the inaugural stallion roster at Spendthrift Australia for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere season.

The 4-year-old son of Into Mischief will participate in Spendthrift’s “Share the Upside” program, for which he will be offered at an advertised fee of $4,350 ($5,500 Australian). He will be offered on a standard live-foal contract for $3,045 ($3,850 Australian).

DRF sales editor Joe Nevills analyzes the Kentucky Derby field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku,  a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

Ocho Ocho Ocho
Delta Jackpot ace
Still seeking 2-year-old form
He’ll find it elsewhere

Carpe Diem
Seven-figure colt
Appears built for the classics
But that post is tough

Materiality
Apollo’s shadow
Looms on a woozy stretch run
This is not his time

This year’s Kentucky Derby might be quite polarizing between the favorites and the longshots, but the great equalizer for them all will be the distance of the race.

The Derby will be the first start at 1 1/4 miles for every horse in the field, and many of the horses running Saturday will never run 10 furlongs in competition again, leaving bettors to speculate on each horse’s capability at the classic distance.

By Joe Nevills and Nicole Russo

A closer look at the pedigrees of the entrants for the 141st running of the $2 million Kentucky Derby, to be contested Saturday at Churchill Downs.