A series of races designed to attract a horse from Europe in addition to the series of races similarly designed for a Japanese runner, which debuted last year, are among the highlights of the preps for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, which were announced on Thursday by Churchill Downs.

The annual showcase event at Turfway Park, the Spiral Stakes, has undergone a reduction in its point value toward Kentucky Derby eligibility and a major purse cut.

Kevin McFarland found himself back in the winner’s circle at a major tournament this past weekend, winning the Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge and netting more than $272,000 in the process.

“It’s a great tournament,” McFarland said. “I continue to believe that these tournaments have to be on racing’s biggest days. That’s what makes them better.”

Always Dreaming gets away cleanly from the gate while to the outside, Irish War Cry veers in causing chain-reaction bumping with McCraken and Classic Empire.

Despite unseasonably cool temperatures, the lack of a popular contender, and a quirky wet track, wagering on the Kentucky Derby and its supporting card Saturday at Churchill Downs set records, with total betting surpassing $200 million for the first time on a North American race card, according to the race charts.

The World Championship of Handicapping qualifying season is officially underway. On Derby Day, five players won their $5,000 seats to the $1 million, no takeout WCH finals on tournaments.drf.com.

The overall winner was Jerald Seagall, whose score of $134.30 was best in the field of 54. Seagall collected in eight of the 12 contest races with his two biggest hits coming from Arklow ($44.80) in the American Turf and Smooth Daddy ($45.30) in Belmont’s Fort Marcy, the contest’s anchor leg.

Unless you win the race or your horse gets hurt, it is hard to take a 20-horse Kentucky Derby seriously, especially when it is run on a track that looks like a peanut butter slurry.

However, that does not stop the chart-callers at Equibase from parsing the melee down to the smallest dips and dives. Leave it to them to turn the Charge of the Light Brigade into a dry and tidy eyewitness report straight out of “Dragnet.”

Though it was not one of the names on the laundry list of owners tied to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, the fingerprints of WinStar Farm could be seen all over the race’s superfecta.

Kenny Troutt’s elite racing and breeding operation stands Bodemeister, the sire of Always Dreaming, as well as Pioneerof the Nile, who sired fourth-place finisher and champion juvenile male Classic Empire. WinStar also co-owns third-place finisher Battle of Midway with Don Alberto Corp. after purchasing a stake in the colt about two weeks prior to the race.

With five straight favorites winning the Kentucky Derby, he has become the answer to a trivia question: Who is the Derby’s most recent losing favorite?

The answer is Bodemeister, a game second to I’ll Have Another in both the Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Now a young stallion at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., Bodemeister has gotten revenge in a big way, with Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming in his first crop.

The myriad connections of the male line of 143rd Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming to the Kentucky Derby began 64 years ago, when his seventh-generation male-line ancestor Native Dancer finished second, beaten a head, by Dark Star in the 79th Derby. That was Native Dancer’s only loss in 22 lifetime starts, and if the excuses then made for Native Dancer’s defeat in the Derby do not stand up well to closer inspection, he needs no excuses for his profound influence on the subsequent history of America’s greatest classic.