West Point Thoroughbreds has purchased an interest in multiple graded stakes winner My Boy Jack, chasing the Kentucky Derby in partnership for the second straight year.

The move adds another ownership group to the program for My Boy Jack in a season in which partnerships have been the norm for Derby hopefuls. My Boy Jack will race for Sol Kumin’s Monomoy Stables, Kirk Godby and Matt Bryan’s Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, and West Point Thoroughbreds. Jockey Kent Desormeaux will wear the Monomoy silks aboard the colt trained by his brother, Keith.

ARCADIA, Calif. – With slight urging in the stretch, Bolt d’Oro worked seven furlongs in 1:24.20 at Santa Anita on Sunday, his second-to-last major exercise before the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.

Second in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 7, Bolt d’Oro worked alone on Sunday under jockey Victor Espinoza, who will ride the colt for the first time in the Kentucky Derby.

As the spring classics approach, the big differences this year between the 3-year-old male and 3-year-old female divisions come into sharp focus.

This entirely likeable 3-year-old male crop has two sensational, undefeated colts in Justify and Magnum Moon who are perhaps the biggest threats we’ve ever seen to end the streak born in 1882 of every Kentucky Derby winner since then having raced at 2.

The smile that has been a seemingly permanent fixture on trainer Chad Brown’s face throughout April at Keeneland, as his barn continues a strong meet and he prepares juvenile champion Good Magic for the Kentucky Derby, slipped for just an instant.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The unbeaten and lightly raced Justify, the current favorite for the Kentucky Derby on May 5, turned in his penultimate drill for the race early Saturday morning at Santa Anita, officially going six furlongs in 1:13 after breaking off at the five-furlong pole.

The Kentucky Derby is a race unlike any other, and it’s appropriate that many bettors approach it that way. For some, Derby opinions are formulated days or even weeks in advance, not by the usual method of analyzing past performances but instead by story lines or obscure historical statistics that captured their attention.

On April 21, 1951, Counterpoint, who began the year as a maiden, finished second in the Ben Ali Handicap. Five days later he was fourth in the Blue Grass, then, on May 5, he finished 11th of 20 in the Kentucky Derby. Things got better, and by the end of the season he was Horse of the Year.

In a 19-day period between April 13 and May 2, 1942, Alsab, the reigning 2-year-old champ, finished second in the Chesapeake Trial, second in the Chesapeake Stakes, third in the Derby Trial, and second in the Kentucky Derby. One week later he won the Preakness.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was 73 degrees, the wind was calm, the sky was sunny, and the racetrack in perfect condition when Kentucky Derby contender Enticed and his multiple Grade 2-placed workmate Take Charge Paula came out to breeze shortly after the renovation break Thursday at Palm Meadows. Conditions were so perfect that trainer Kiaran McLaughlin may never want to leave South Florida this spring.

This I know for certain after the final round of American Kentucky Derby preps: Santa Anita Derby winner Justify is at least five lengths faster than the winners of the other races.

If this was Big Brown or California Chrome’s year, I would pronounce Justify a cinch. However, the other final prep winners are pretty consistent. Not super fast, but consistent. And UAE Derby winner Mendelssohn is an absolute cause for concern.

Going back to the Louisiana Derby, I have analyzed seven final Derby preps from a Beyer-figure standpoint, including that amazing performance in Dubai.

In a development that will bring far more attention to an already compelling Kentucky Derby, and likely make a decided longshot a far shorter price, Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots announced in a press release on Wednesday that he is now part of the ownership group of the colt named for him.

According to the press release, Gronkowski the football player “has acquired a substantial stake” in the racehorse Gronkowski, who earned his berth in the May 5 Kentucky Derby by topping the inaugural European Road to the Kentucky Derby series.