Take I-35 due south 240 miles from Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., and you will nearly run straight into Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. Both venues open their 2019 race meets Friday, but it’s a third track, another 620 miles south – Oaklawn Park – that is shaping their early seasons.

Canterbury and even more so Prairie stock their stable areas with horsemen who winter at Oaklawn Park, and instead of closing in mid-April this year, Oaklawn’s meet extends through Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s been 11 years since Eight Belles died on the racetrack, but for her jockey, it may seem even longer.

Gabriel Saez, who disappeared from the public consciousness almost as soon as the Eight Belles controversy exploded in the aftermath of the filly’s tragic death following the 2008 Kentucky Derby, has traveled his own difficult path in finally returning to the Derby limelight.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tyler Gaffalione, the leading jockey at the 2018 fall meets at Keeneland and Churchill, is serving a three-day suspension through Kentucky Oaks Day stemming from a riding infraction in the final race April 20 at Keeneland.

Gaffalione’s agent, Matt Muzikar, said the options posed to him by the Kentucky stewards were to accept the three days or be given five days of the stewards’ choice if a formal appeal was denied.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The vast array of exotic wagers being offered by Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks and Derby days has expanded even further with a new two-day pick six made up entirely of Grade 1 races.

The $2-minimum Oaks/Derby pick six comes with a 15 percent takeout, a $250,000 pool guarantee, and a mandatory payout. The bet consists of these races: the La Troienne and Oaks on Friday, followed by the Humana Distaff, Churchill Downs, Old Forester, and Derby on Saturday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – April 29, six days before opening day of the 2019 race meet, it snowed several inches at Arlington Park. But freakish spring snow is nothing compared to the deeper existential problems facing this historic Chicago-area track.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ken McPeek has come tantalizingly close to the Kentucky Oaks trophy. Seventeen years ago, he led over favored Take Charge Lady, who had won all three of her prep races that season. Take Charge Lady – who went on to become a multiple Grade 1 winner and blue hen with strong ties to this year’s Kentucky Derby field – finished second to $42 upset winner Farda Amiga.

“The Oaks was her fourth race of the season,” McPeek said. “I think maybe I ran her one too many times.”

It is only fitting that Danny Gargan’s first Kentucky Derby starter comes with a horse he obtained via the claim box. Since going out on his own in 2013, Gargan has developed one of the top claiming outfits on the East Coast.

Last fall, he took Tax for $50,000, believing he might be getting turf horse. Instead, Tax has brought Gargan back to his old Kentucky home for the country’s biggest horse race, Saturday’s 145th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – They’re the rookies, the new recruits, the incoming class. They’re the fortunate few about to experience the thrill of their first Kentucky Derby starter.

Regardless of how often they’ve been in attendance at Churchill Downs on Derby Day or how successful their careers have already been, a whole new world will open to them when the starting gate is sprung Saturday for the 145th Run for the Roses.

Here are the first-time trainers and jockeys with horses in the main body of the Derby:

Bret Calhoun (By My Standards)

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey agent Ron Burke appears to have an able replacement for the injured Ademar Santos in Sahin Civaci, who made his way to Woodbine from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Santos suffered a broken collarbone when his mount, Hopehard, stumbled and unseated him just past the wire in the eighth race here April 21. Santos is recovering at home in Tampa, Fla.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Japanese invader Master Fencer is a mystery horse for handicappers in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, though he is now less of an uncertainty to his jockey, Julien Leparoux, after he became acquainted with the colt during training on Tuesday at Churchill Downs.