CHURCHILL DOWNS
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
WEATHER: SUNNY
TEMPERATURE: 40
TRACK: FAST
TURF: FIRM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was the calm after the storm on a crisp and clear Sunday morning at Churchill Downs. The racetrack was nearly deserted during the special session reserved for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks contenders following two whirlwind days during which the majority of the horses stabled locally turned in their final preps for those races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bill Mott found himself in an unusual position Sunday morning on the backside of Churchill Downs. He was the center of attention in a media scrum, talking about his participation in Saturday’s 144th Kentucky Derby after the 3-year-old Hofburg worked a half-mile in 48.03 seconds over the main track.
“It’s nice to be here, we’re glad to be here and we’re glad to be here with a good horse,” Mott, who hasn’t run a horse in the Derby since Hold Me Back in 2009, told the assembled media outside barn 19, where he has kept a string at Churchill Downs since 1980.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The main track at Churchill Downs is open for training from 5:15-10 a.m. on a daily basis. Factoring in the two breaks, that means trainers have approximately a four-hour period during which to work their horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Everyone knows Bolt d’Oro is an outstanding colt, a three-time graded winner who finished a creditable second last out in the Santa Anita Derby.
What is less clear is how much chance Bolt d’Oro has to win the Kentucky Derby. After his final workout Saturday at Santa Anita, the issue is unresolved.
Owner-trainer Mick Ruis said the half-mile workout by Bolt d’Oro was “perfect.”
The colt’s rider, Victor Espinoza, said the work was “just a little maintenance, nothing crazy.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The third start was the charm for Good Magic as a 2-year-old, and the way he trained Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, it looks as though the third start as a 3-year-old for last year’s champion juvenile male will be his best this year.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Track: Fast
Weather: Sunny
Temperature: 49
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following almost a week of relative inactivity, the action picked up appreciably Friday on the Kentucky Derby/Oaks watch at Churchill Downs. Eleven prospective starters – five for the Derby and six for the Oaks – worked on a clear, crisp morning, beginning shortly after the racetrack opened at 5:15 and continuing until after the second renovation break nearly four hours later.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After months of flying all over the country to ride top prospects for the Kentucky Derby, jockey Javier Castellano has wound up right where he started, choosing to ride Audible, whom he rode to victory in the Holy Bull back in January, as Castellano tries to win the Derby for the first time in his highly decorated career.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Justify, the unbeaten early-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, will ship to Churchill Downs in peak condition after a strong seven-furlong workout Friday at Santa Anita.
Working at 6:30 over a freshly renovated surface on a cool, overcast morning, Justify broke off at the 5 1/2-furlong marker, three to four lengths behind a workmate. Justify caught his rival at the finish, completed his seven-furlong drill on the clubhouse turn, and galloped out a mile. He did it easily.
Trivia question: Who owned the winner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby, Always Dreaming?
If you guessed Anthony Bonomo and Vincent Viola, the two Brooklyn-born friends who were usually in front of the television cameras in the lead-up to the race last year, you are only partially right.
Here’s the actual list: MeB Racing Stables, Brooklyn Boyz Stables, Teresa Viola Racing Stables, St. Elias Stables, Siena Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the first time in four days, the main track was listed as fast at Churchill Downs, with the most noteworthy name on Thursday’s rather extensive work tab not that of a potential Kentucky Derby winner, but that of a past one.
