Gray Magician, the runner-up in the UAE Derby, had his final breeze before the May 4 Kentucky Derby on Saturday, working five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in California under Drayden Van Dyke, who has picked up the ride in the Derby.
According to trainer Peter Miller, Gray Magician finished the work in 23 1/5 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12 2/5. The move came in company with an unspecified workmate as a target.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The countdown to the Kentucky Derby has begun, and after the way his colt Omaha Beach worked on Saturday, Derby Day can’t come soon enough for trainer Richard Mandella.
“How many more days we got?” Mandella asked rhetorically shortly after Omaha Beach, in his final work for the 145th Derby, one week away, worked a sharp five furlongs on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs
Weather: Cloudy
Track: Good/fast
Temp: 56
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The effects of even more rain falling over the local area Thursday night and into Friday led to a racetrack that started out as sloppy but improved steadily once the clouds finally gave way to clearer skies as Friday morning progressed at Churchill Downs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – On a crucial Friday morning of Kentucky Derby training, jockey Martin Garcia was a key member of trainer Bob Baffert’s team at Santa Anita.
In a little more than an hour, Garcia served as exercise rider for two of Baffert’s leading hopes for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4. At 6:30, Roadster, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6, worked six furlongs in 1:13.80. At 7:45, Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018 who was second in the Santa Anita Derby, worked seven furlongs in 1:27.
Six months ago, it seemed highly likely California owners Gary and Mary West would be back at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.
In November, they won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill with the undefeated Game Winner, who in January was named the champion 2-year-old male of 2018. Game Winner has done his part to qualify for next Saturday’s Kentucky Derby with two second-place finishes in major stakes in the last six weeks.
Jockey Jon Court is going to have to reward his mother a pretty penny if Long Range Toddy wins the $3 million Kentucky Derby next Saturday.
Court, 58, is the oldest rider ever to have a mount in the 145-year-old classic, eclipsing the record of 57 set by jockey Bobby Baird in 1978, according to Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 61
Tracks: Muddy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The weather was the story, both locally and around the country, when it came to training hours on Thursday for horses preparing to compete here next week in the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With final pre-race workouts and new arrivals for the 145th Kentucky Derby still to come, things were inordinately quiet Thursday morning in the Churchill Downs stable area.
“It’ll pick up soon, right?” Jimmy Barnes, the longtime Bob Baffert assistant, asked rhetorically.
ELMONT, N.Y. – When it comes to the Kentucky Derby, no news is bad news as far as trainer Mark Hennig is concerned.
Hennig is the trainer of Bourbon War, who would need four defections to make it into the body of the Kentucky Derby field.
If the Derby isn’t the next race, the Peter Pan at Belmont Park on May 11 or the Preakness at Pimlico on May 18 most likely will be, and on Thursday, Hennig sent out Bourbon War for a half-mile workout in 48.52 seconds over the Belmont main track.
Justify may have won the Kentucky Derby last year, but it was Instilled Regard who won the hearts of bettors fortunate enough to cash on the Derby superfecta. His rally to grab fourth at odds of 85-1 behind popular choices Justify, Good Magic, and Audible led to a $19,618.20 payoff for a $1 wager, exponentially higher than the $141.40 trifecta mutuel for a $1 bet.
