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.
Just four days after Resilience and Just F Y I put in their first workouts over the Churchill Downs main track in preparation for their starts in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, trainer Bill Mott sent the 3-year-olds out for their second workouts Monday morning on a clear, cool morning in Louisville.
“We didn’t do much the other day. I wanted to see a good work far enough out where it wasn’t going to compromise them but yet benefit them,” Mott said, explaining the quick turnaround.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold worked a half-mile in a quick 46.60 seconds on Saturday in advance of a flight to Kentucky on Tuesday for an intended start in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4.
Working behind stablemate Shady Tiger, a stakes winner against California-bred sprinters on April 6, Stronghold closed through the stretch to finish slightly in front. Antonio Fresu, who has ridden Stronghold in his last four starts, was aboard for the workout, the colt’s first since the win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 6.
