The migratory patterns are well-known. Every winter the gray whales make their way to Baja California. The swallows return to the mission at San Juan Capistrano every April. And the first weekend in May, trainer Todd Pletcher is in Louisville.
Gouverneur Morris
Constitution – Addison Run, by Unbridled’s Song
Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, Carrie Brogden, Craig Brogden, and James F. Miller ($200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Phoenix Thoroughbreds; $600,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream juvenile purchase by Team Valor International)
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park will put an exclamation point on an unprecedented meet Saturday when it closes its season with two $500,000 divisions of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
There were 22 horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile race Sunday, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation of the spring meet at Keeneland, the suspension of racing at Santa Anita, and the postponement of the Kentucky Derby to Sept. 5.
Irad Ortiz Jr. and Dr Post both made up for lost time Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Ortiz, on his first day riding in five weeks, guided the 3-year-old Dr Post to a 1 1/2-length victory over Attachment Rate in Saturday’s $75,000 Unbridled Stakes for 3-year-olds. It was one of four victories on the card for Ortiz, the two-time reigning Eclipse Award winner, who hadn’t ridden since March 19 owing to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Steve Asmussen has a pair of graded stakes winners on deck for the Arkansas Derby next Saturday in Basin and Silver Prospector.
Basin won last year’s Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, and Silver Prospector has captured both the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs and the Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn.
When the Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 to Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, it gave some trainers the luxury of taking their time to find out if they have a horse worthy of pointing to that race.
Trainer Mark Hennig decided to take advantage by not rushing Americanus into the Grade 1 Florida Derby last month and opting for a different path. Saturday, Americanus takes the path of least resistance on a possible road to the Derby when he runs in the $75,000 Unbridled Stakes for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.
Turns out there will be a Kentucky Derby run this year on the first Saturday of May after all. And it will be star-studded.
Churchill Downs announced Thursday that NBC will broadcast a virtual Kentucky Derby on May 2 featuring all 13 winners of the Triple Crown. The computer-simulated race will be shown during a three-hour broadcast on NBC from 3-6 p.m. Eastern, in a window traditionally reserved for the running of the real Kentucky Derby, which this year has been postponed to Sept. 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Entries for the May 2 Arkansas Derby will be taken Sunday at Oaklawn Park, and there will be plenty of scoreboard watching, because the number of horses who enter the race will impact whether it is split into two divisions. If it’s not, Charlatan, one of the most highly ranked 3-year-olds in the country, is in danger of not getting in based on the race conditions.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With the postponement of the Kentucky Derby from the first Saturday in May until the first Saturday in September, the opportunity has arisen for late-developing 3-year-olds to insert themselves in the Derby picture in the months ahead.
