LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dirt bits tracked in from the shed row, scattered strands of straw bedding, a small pool of water moating a table leg – decorative touches laid out in the Churchill Downs barn office of trainer Brad Cox after a morning of Derby Week training had ended and before anyone went through the room with a broom.

Churchill is Cox’s home base. Some trainers at the top of Thoroughbred racing sport barn offices fit for a king. The man who would be king of this sport has neither time nor need for such appurtenances.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Todd Pletcher’s presence in the Kentucky Derby is as much a rite of spring as baseball, taxes, and the Masters.

Starting in 2000, Pletcher has participated in 19 of 20 Kentucky Derbies. Ten times in that span, Pletcher has had three or more runners, including in 2010, when he started four horses and won his first Derby with Super Saver. In 2017, Always Dreaming, one of three starters Pletcher had that year, gave him his second blanket of roses.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Showers
Temp. 68
Track: Sloppy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although the weather should be clear and the track fast on Kentucky Derby Day, such was not the case just 48 hours in advance of the main event, with rain showers and a sloppy racetrack greeting the 20 Derby contenders when they came out to train Thursday morning at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Danny Velazquez was happy to be at Churchill Downs Thursday on a damp, humid morning. Quite frankly, Velazquez is happy to be anywhere.

Velazquez, who is making his Kentucky Derby debut Saturday with longshot Brooklyn Strong, was involved in a freak accident at Parx in March. During training hours, a horse unseated its rider and ran right into Velazquez, who was aboard his stable pony. Velazquez was thrown hard off the pony.

All the O’Neills had gathered at the hospital in Honolulu in support of David. Doug and Dennis, his brothers, were in from California. David’s son, Patrick, Doug and Dennis’s nephew, arrived from Hong Kong, where he had an internship. David’s wife, daughters, all there, anxiously awaiting word.

The doctor emerged from surgery, approached the waiting family.

“It went well,” he said. Hearts began to soar, if only for a second. “He has another six months.”

“We just sat there in stunned silence,” Patrick remembered.

Will a Derby horse be 99-1?

Horses sent off in the Kentucky Derby at 99-1 or higher have seemingly become extinct despite an expansion from 14 to 20 betting interests in 2001 – which also happened to be the last time any horse was sent away at triple-digit odds. Startac was 10th at 102-1 and Arctic Boy was 12th at 101-1 behind the victorious Monarchos that year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bettors sharp enough to back Hot Rod Charlie in some of the earlier pools in the 2021 Kentucky Derby Future Wager bought themselves wagering value ahead of the 147th Derby.

As a separately listed interest in all five futures pools offered by Churchill Downs, Hot Rod Charlie had closing odds of 34-1, 40-1, 35-1, and 53-1 before he won the March 20 Louisiana Derby, after which he was 12-1 in the final pool. He figures as no worse than fourth choice Saturday and is 8-1 on the morning line.

Golden Gate Fields will offer special seating for Saturday's Kentucky Derby simulcast at its Rose Runner VIP Derby Party.

Tickets are $75 and including seating at private tables for four, six or eight guests on the Clubhouse Level Players Patio and Trackside Court. Tickets must be purchased online at goldengatefields.com.

Fans will be permitted back at Belmont Park beginning Saturday – Kentucky Derby Day – the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday afternoon.

In according with protocols established for other sports venues such as Yankee Stadium, Belmont will be able to permit up to 20 percent of seating capacity, which translates to approximately 7,000 fans. Beginning May 19, that percentage goes up to 33 percent, under guidance announced this week by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Space is at a premium in the winner’s circle for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, with all those associated with the victorious horse crowding together for a once in a lifetime snapshot for the history books.

Yet should Mandaloun prevail in the Kentucky Derby this Saturday, or should Malathaat or Millefeuille find herself draped in lilies on Friday evening, there will be empty space in the winner’s circle due to the recent death of two titans of the sport.