HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If Saturday’s $165,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes is any indication, it’s going to be fun tracking the locally based 3-year-olds as they make their way along the Kentucky Derby trail between now and the marquee race for the division, the $1 million Florida Derby, here March 29. The Mucho Macho Man is the first of two stakes for 3-year-olds on a card that also features the $165,000 Ginger Brew for fillies at a mile on turf.
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DRF Past Performances
ARCADIA, Calif. – From the first Saturday of each winter month at Santa Anita to the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, the search is on to find a 3-year-old with the right stuff.
For those still light on seasoning, such as Barnes and Bullard, the 2025 trail begins Saturday in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes. Others are more established and on standby, including Breeders’ Cup Juvenile one-two Citizen Bull and Gaming, and Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity winner Journalism.
January is still early, and a lot will change.
Barnes, a first-out winner from the barn of Triple Crown titan Bob Baffert, was made the 13-1 individual favorite in the second Kentucky Derby pool, behind the perennial top choice in the early pools, the field entry, which closed at 9-5.
Barnes, a $3.2 million 2-year-old purchase, won his debut at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27 by a head. It was the first win by a Baffert-trained horse at Churchill since he was banned by the track shortly after the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The ban was lifted this summer. Baffert has won the Derby a record six times.
Two also-rans in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile have been made the morning-line co-favorites among the individual entries for the second Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool, according to a list distributed by Churchill Downs, the administrator of the pool, on Monday night.
Chancer McPatrick and East Avenue, sixth and ninth in the Juvenile behind gate-to-wire winner Citizen Bull, were posted at 10-1 on the morning line for the pool, which opens Thursday and closes Sunday night. Citizen Bull was one of three horses among the 38 individual entries listed at 20-1.
Churchill Downs will open its first 2025 Kentucky Derby future wager pool this Wednesday with 38 individual 2-year-olds on offer as well as two field bets.
This is the third year that Churchill has offered a Derby future wager leading up to the Breeders’ Cup. The results of the five Breeders’ Cup races restricted to 2-year-olds held on Friday will significantly impact the betting odds for this year’s crop of juveniles, and the Derby future wager will close at 6 p.m. Eastern on Friday, just prior to post time of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
The days are getting shorter, and the 2024 racing calendar is winding down – the Breeders’ Cup will be key to deciding divisional championships, and only five Grade 1 flat races remain in the United States outside of that event this year. However, this is a sport with no true offseason, and there’s always plenty to look forward to, especially as some 2-year-olds begin to map out their late-fall and winter campaigns toward the 2025 spring classics.
Churchill Downs had nearly $50 million in additional revenue in the second quarter of this year compared to last year’s second quarter, according to financial documents released by the track’s parent company on Wednesday night, bolstered by what Churchill Downs Inc. called a “record” Kentucky Derby week and additional live racing dates at the track.
Saturday’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on NBC drew the highest audience for the race since 1989, according to figures distributed by the network.
The Total Audience Delivery measure – which includes streaming viewership – was an average of 16.7 million viewers during the race portion of the broadcast, from 6 p.m. Eastern to 7:15 p.m., according to NBC. That was the highest figure since the Derby win by Sunday Silence in 1989, when viewership for the single television broadcast was 18.9 million viewers.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Ken McPeek said Sunday morning that Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is not definite to run in the $2 million Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico.
After taking the traditional morning-after-the-Derby phone call from Pimlico officials inviting the Derby winner to the Preakness, McPeek told the assembled media outside his Churchill Downs barn Sunday morning that he could wait until entry day - May 13 - to decide whether to run Mystik Dan in the Preakness or train up to the Belmont Stakes on June 8.
