CHURCHILL DOWNS
April 28, 2024
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temperature: 68
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunday offered a picture-perfect morning at Churchill Downs to pretty much close the book on the final major preparations for this year’s Kentucky Derby, with only the two Japanese invaders, Forever Young and T O Password, likely to record an official work in the days ahead.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was a whirlwind, albeit successful, 12 hours for trainer Steve Asmussen.
On Saturday afternoon, Asmussen was at Oaklawn Park, where he watched Valentine Candy win the Bachelor Stakes, the 3-year-old’s fourth stakes win of the meet. Asmussen jumped in his car for the eight-hour drive to Churchill Downs during which time he was kept apprised of his stable winning four races at Lone Star Park in Texas and then a victory by Zeitlos in the Roxelana Stakes, the latter being the opening-night feature at Churchill Downs.
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.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fourteen hours before post positions were to be drawn for the 150th Kentucky Derby, a serious contender officially joined the party.
Encino, just two weeks after winning the Lexington Stakes to earn enough points to make the field, sealed his connections’ decision to run in next week’s Kentucky Derby with a superb five-furlong workout shortly after 5:15 a.m. Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For nearly a quarter of a century, the trainer-jockey team of Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez was arguably the most successful in racing. The duo combined to win 1,866 races – including a Kentucky Derby in 2017 with Always Dreaming and a Belmont Stakes with the filly Rags to Riches in 2007 – and more than $163 million in purse money.
In recent years, the two have found more of their success with other partners. But for Kentucky Derby 150, the band is back together.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It comes as no shock to Whit Beckman that the first time he has a horse as a trainer in the Kentucky Derby, two of his biggest impediments to success are Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown.
Before going out on his own in 2021, Beckman worked as an assistant to both Pletcher and Brown. He was a New York-based assistant to Pletcher when the now Hall of Fame trainer won his first Derby with Super Saver in 2010. Beckman worked for Brown when that trainer won his first Preakness with Cloud Computing in 2017.
Frankie Dettori will ride Wood Memorial runner-up Society Man in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Danny Gargan said Tuesday.
This will be Dettori's first Derby mount since 2000, when he rode China Visit to a sixth-place finish in the Run for the Roses.
"I'm excited to have him," Gargan said. "He's riding great. I know it's a race he wants to be in and a race he wants to win."
Dettori typically rides in Europe at this time of year but, after postponing retirement at the end of last year, he moved his tack to America beginning last December.
Fierceness and Sierra Leone, the expected first two choices for the Kentucky Derby, arrived on the Churchill grounds about 16 hours apart.
Fierceness, the 2023 2-year-old champion and dominant Florida Derby winner, arrived about 4 a.m. following a van ride from his winter base at Palm Beach Downs.
Jose Ortiz has been named to ride Florida Derby runner-up and Kentucky Derby longshot Catalytic, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Monday.
Ortiz, whose best finish from eight Derby mounts is a second in 2018 aboard Good Magic, replaces Julien Leparoux, who rode Catalytic in the Florida Derby, where he was beaten 13 1/2 lengths by Fierceness.
