Six years after starting in the Kentucky Derby, Goldencents will have a first-crop Kentucky Derby starter in Louisiana Derby winner By My Standards.

Despite being a European champion in his own right, Noble Mission has always lived in the shadow of his brother, the unbeaten two-time European Horse of the Year Frankel.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. has a Kentucky Derby mount to look forward to in Plus Que Parfait, but before the May 4 classic he has some business to attend to at Oaklawn Park.

Santana, who at 25 has established himself as the track’s most dominant rider since Pat Day, is chasing his seventh straight title in Arkansas. Day won 12 from 1983 through 1994.

Churchill Downs Weather: Clear Temp: 58 Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With only eight of the 20 top points earners for this year’s Kentucky Derby on the grounds, things have been relatively quiet the past couple of mornings during the special 15-minute window set aside daily at Churchill Downs for prospective Derby and Kentucky Oaks runners.

Trainer Gustavo Delgado wants to run Bodexpress in the Kentucky Derby. So too Kenny McPeek with Signalman. Over there in the corner, that’s Mark Hennig waving his hand, saying he wants in, too, with Bourbon War. Trouble is, with less than a week to go until final entries are taken and posts drawn for the 145th Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs, they are all on the outside looking in.

Claiborne Farm has won the Kentucky Derby only once in its century-plus history, when the star-crossed Swale carried its famous gold silks beneath the twin spires. But that doesn’t mean the farm hasn’t had ties to other Derby winners – or that the Hancock family’s influence isn’t all over this year’s race despite its lack of ownership.

“We have a lot of interest,” said farm president Walker Hancock, the great-grandson of Arthur B. Hancock, who founded Claiborne in 1910.

WHO’S HOT

The hot-stove debate regards who will be favored in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, has Game Winner slightly favored at 5-1, but with both Omaha Beach and Roadster right behind at 6-1, the margin obviously is razor thin between those three. Improbable, at 8-1, is the only other horse Watchmaker has in single digits. All four of those runners were based this winter at Santa Anita, and three of the four are trained by Bob Baffert.

Tacitus
Tapit – Close Hatches, by First Defence
Bred in Kentucky by Juddmonte Farms

A long and winding road toward the 2019 Kentucky Derby is making its way toward the finish line. Only a handful of horses in the diverse group of horses preparing to line up for the classic have won multiple graded stakes this season. Tacitus was one of those. He finished as the leader by points in this season’s series of Kentucky Derby qualifying races, and sports one of the most regal pedigrees in this class.

Anothertwistafate, currently 23rd on the points list for the Kentucky Derby on May 4, will bypass the race and point for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 18 at Pimlico, trainer Blaine Wright said Tuesday.

Anothertwistafate would have needed three defections from those above him on the list by Tuesday to make the 20-horse field for the Derby. Even if he hadn't made the top 20, he could have been entered as an also-eligible, as a maximum of four horses can be also-eligibles at entry time.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert can slip in and out of town as unnoticed as anybody else with white hair and five Kentucky Derby wins to his credit. Baffert flew into Louisville late Sunday from California on something of a stealth mission, intent on overseeing a key pre-Derby workout Monday morning at Churchill Downs for Improbable without alerting track officials or drawing an inordinate amount of attention.