LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s a quirky statistic to be sure, being as there is no rhyme or reason for it, but the Wood Memorial is 0 for 15 years producing a top-three finisher in the Kentucky Derby.
Overall, the Wood Memorial has produced 20 Kentucky Derby winners, with 11 of those horses winning both races. The last to win both was Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.
In 2003, Wood runner-up Funny Cide flipped the script on Wood winner Empire Maker in the Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Bellafina wins Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, trainer Simon Callaghan may need assistance hoisting the trophy.
Callaghan dislocated his right shoulder early Wednesday morning, slipping as he walked down the stairs of the apartment he has rented as he was getting ready to head to Churchill Downs for morning training.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the past decade, the most prominent and most controversial intramural debate within the North American racing community has involved the raceday use of the diuretic furosemide to mitigate bleeding in the lungs. Prior to 2019, nearly every major racing organization had weighed in on the topic in some way, shape, or form, but that list had a notable, powerful exception – Churchill Downs Inc.
In the weeks prior to this year’s Kentucky Derby, that abruptly changed.
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.”
