LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As soon as McCraken crossed under the wire as the winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, the colt’s owner and breeder, Janis Whitham, began to weep.
Watching with family and friends in the Winner’s Circle Suites on the ground level of Churchill Downs, Whitham surely realized this is the best Kentucky Derby prospect she has had since her husband, Frank, died in a 1993 plane crash.
“Yes, it is emotional,” said Whitham, 84, before making the short walk to the winner’s circle.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As confident as trainer Tony Dutrow was that his 2-year-old Mo Town was going to run a big race in Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, he didn’t necessarily know if that would be good enough to win it.
The horse was coming off a two-month layoff, missed a scheduled start in the Nashua in early November due to a sore gluteal muscle, and was facing a fast and formidable foe in Takaful.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Not This Time, one of the early favorites for the 2017 Kentucky Derby, has been retired to stud at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., after being diagnosed with a soft-tissue injury to his right foreleg. The stunning announcement of the colt’s retirement was made Monday afternoon by Taylor Made.
The cost of general-admission tickets for both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks next year at Churchill Downs will rise substantially from the price this year, according to a press release from the track Thursday.
Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes; one mile; Belmont Park; Oct. 8, 2016
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Practical Joke
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owner: Klaravich Stables Inc. and William Lawrence
Beyer Speed Figure: 88
:: Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Results, replays, charts, and more
Grade 1, $300,690 FrontRunner Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita, Oct. 1, 2016
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Gormley
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Owner: Jerry and Ann Moss
Beyer Speed Figure: 93
Churchill Downs will award a Japanese horse an automatic berth in next year’s Kentucky Derby under a new program assigning points to participants in two Japanese stakes races, the track announced on Monday.
The two one-mile dirt races at Tokyo Racecourse will be the Cattleya Sho for 2-year-olds on Nov. 26 and the Hyacinth for 3-year-olds, expected to be run “early in 2017,” according to a release from Churchill and the Japan Racing Association.
I used to look forward to the Derby card thinking about the countless opportunities that awaited on a program filled with “tourist” money. The influx of wagers from part-time bettors and those who played just once or twice a year helped fill the pools with potential payouts that wouldn’t appear on your average race card. However, this year my sense of anticipation was tempered by the fact that I did not have the time to explore the card the way I wanted to, and instead of attacking the day at Churchill with two fists I remained tentative.
Pick your spots!
The final rating for the Kentucky Derby broadcast on NBC on Saturday was a 9.0, according to the network, down 6.3 percent from the 9.6 final rating for the broadcast last year.
The rating for the Derby dipped despite the surge in media coverage last year surrounding the post-Derby campaign of American Pharoah, who became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years when he went on to win the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It was not a particularly strong showing for the East Coast-based runners in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
Mohaymen, the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth winner who also won a pair of graded stakes at Aqueduct last fall, had the best showing with a fourth-place finish after a slow break.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Mohaymen would not run in either the Preakness or the Belmont, but instead will have the Travers on Aug. 27 as his next major goal, with a possible start in the Jim Dandy on July 30.
