LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The expected full field for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby will create a scenario none of the 20 who go into battle have ever seen before, or will again. Young nerves will be tested in such a large field by the jostling for position, tight spaces, and fierce challenges. 

The experience is impossible to replicate or fully prepare for, although most youngsters get traffic training in company as part of their basic education. John Ortiz, who will send out his first Derby starter in Barber Road, explained the process of instilling competitiveness and confidence. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s been 21 years since a Derby starter was 99-1 on the Churchill toteboard, and it appears unlikely that drought will end this year.

Maybe Rich Strike would reach triple-digit odds if he was to somehow draw into the race as No. 21 before the Friday morning scratch deadline, but otherwise it seems unlikely any of the other 20 starters will reach that threshold. Without Rich Strike, maybe the longest shot will be Summer Is Tomorrow, although Happy Jack, Pioneer of Medina, and Ethereal Road also should be big numbers.

Aside from the plethora of familiar wagering options Saturday, Churchill is offering two new multi-race bets. They are a 50-cent pick five comprising main-track stakes, starting with the Knicks Go (race 6), and a $3-minimum all-3-year-old pick three (Pat Day Mile, American Turf, Derby).

Those are in addition to all the other multi-race wagers, including the 20-cent Derby City jackpot wager (races 7-12) and four 50-cent pick fives, as well as all vertical wagers such as exactas, trifectas, superfectas, and a $1 super high five on the Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The numbers are staggering.

Horses trained by Steve Asmussen made 2,427 starts during 2021. Asmussen, as of Monday, had won 9,727 races during his career. He has won eight Breeders’ Cup races, won the Preakness twice, and won the Belmont once. He has trained the American Horse of the Year four times, including three years in a row, with Curlin in 2007 and 2008 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009.

Last summer, the number in Asmussen’s head was 9,446, the victory that would make him the sport’s winning-most North American trainer.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Long-time Woodbine Entertainment television host Jason Portuondo is leaving the company on June 26 to become a racing official with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The traditional bounty of wagering options Friday and Saturday on Churchill racing includes a couple of new Derby Day bets.

The new Saturday wagers are a 50-cent pick five comprising main-track stakes, starting with the Knicks Go (race 6), and a $3-minimum all-3-year-old pick three (Pat Day Mile, American Turf, Derby).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Horseplayers who backed the filly Nest in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, offered March 11-13 by Churchill Downs, will be getting the best tote value when the 148th Oaks is run Friday.

Nest closed at 14-1 in the Oaks futures but is the 5-2 program favorite for the Oaks following her decisive victory in the April 8 Ashland at Keeneland. The Oaks futures were held concurrent with the fourth of five pools in the 2022 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brad Cox keeps getting asked what it feels like to win the Kentucky Derby the way he did.

“More than 100 times,” said Cox. “Maybe not 200, but yeah, a lot.”

When Patrick Kearney decided at age 83 to buy his first horse, he was just looking for a little excitement. Mission accomplished.

Just over a year after buying a 2-year-old filly by Upstart at auction, Kearney has one of the top choices for Friday’s $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks in Kathleen O., an undefeated two-time graded stakes winner.

“I’m living a dream,” Kearney, now 84 said, recently. “This is beyond incredible.”

Al Gold was on a family vacation in the Catskills in the summer of 1972 when he visited Monticello Raceway, a Standardbred track in that part of the upstate New York region.

“The place was packed – completely different from the way it is today – and it was enjoyable,” Gold said.

The following day, Gold was in the gym of the hotel his family was staying at when he overheard a conversation between two men discussing how a particular race was going to play out that night at Monticello.