CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 67°
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The final special training session for Kentucky Derby and Oaks participants went off without incident Thursday at Churchill Downs. However, Domestic Product, who came out to train nearly 30 minutes later with the general population, did have to delay his gallop briefly due to a horse who lost its rider and got loose in his vicinity while he stood calmly along the outside rail about 100 yards from the finish line.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – At one end of the stable area there is Sierra Leone, a well-bred, magnificent-looking specimen who cost $2.3 million and hails from some of the most powerful connections in the sport. At the other, there is West Saratoga, a modestly bred, ordinary-looking gray who cost $11,000 and hails from connections with humble beginnings.
Emerald Downs will begin its 55-day spring-summer meeting on Saturday with a new weekend post time of 1:30 p.m. Pacific. Opening day coincides with the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Post time for the Kentucky Derby is set for 3:57 p.m.
A Fabulous Hat and Best Dressed Contest will augment the Derby Day festivities at Emerald Downs with $1,000 in prizes to be divided among several different categories and age groups. The deadline to enter the contest is 2:30 p.m.
The address for Churchill Downs in Louisville remains 700 Central Avenue, as it has for more than 100 years. But anyone who has not visited that address in 20 years might not believe they have arrived at the right place.
In early April 1989, trainer Shug McGaughey, back on the East Coast, had the Santa Anita Derby on his mind. McGaughey trained Easy Goer, champion 2-year-old of 1988, a brilliant winner of his first two starts at age 3. Two weeks after the Santa Anita Derby, Easy Goer would cement his favoritism for the Kentucky Derby by winning the Wood Memorial by three lengths.
McGaughey watched as a colt named Sunday Silence, who hadn’t even faced stakes competition as a 2-year-old, roared to an 11-length win in the Santa Anita Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – When D. Wayne Lukas met Keith Asmussen at a South Dakota racetrack more than 60 years ago, neither could have imagined Asmussen’s grandson would be attempting to give Lukas his fifth win in the Kentucky Derby.
“We were trying to make ends meet, let alone make a living,” Asmussen said.
All-sources handle at the Aqueduct spring meet was $105,702,625, a decrease of 28.1 percent from the $147,032,499 handled during the 2023 spring meet, according to statistics released by the New York Racing Association.
There were 16 days of racing and 136 races conducted at this year’s spring meet, compared to 19 days and 162 races held in 2023. Average daily handle was $6,606,414, a 14.6 percent decline from the $7,738,553 averaged a year ago.
Total handle at the recently completed Keeneland spring meet was down 2.5 percent, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form, while the average handle per race dropped 8.3 percent.
According to the figures, total handle for the 16-day meet was $219.0 million compared to $224.6 million during a 15-day meet last year. With the additional day, Keeneland ran 150 races this year, compared to 141 last year. Average handle per race dropped from $1.59 million to $1.46 million, according to DRF’s analysis.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Aside from the fact that a horse has never won the race from post 17, trainer Todd Pletcher seemed relatively happy with that post position after Fierceness drew it for Kentucky Derby 150 to be run May 4 at Churchill Downs.
“It’s overdue, right?” Pletcher said. “Way overdue the way I see it.”
It’s a statistical anomaly to be sure, but post 17 is 0 for 44 in the Derby, a race that has seen winners break from posts 18, 19, and 20.
