There will be a lot heard in Louisville this week about Wood Memorial runner-up Trojan Nation trying to become the first maiden to win the Kentucky Derby in 83 years. His arrival at Churchill Downs on Monday was sure to be greeted by winks and derision, while trainer Paddy Gallagher would be following on Tuesday. Was he ready for the ridicule?
“I’m used to that,” Gallagher said with a laugh.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although just 30 years old, Brian Hernandez Jr. has already done more as a rider than most jockeys could hope to accomplish with a full life in the sport.
The Eclipse Award-winning apprentice of 2004, he has become one of the most sought-after jockeys in his native Louisiana and in Kentucky, where he has spent the past 10-plus years plying his trade. He has also won North America’s richest horse race, the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, guiding Fort Larned to a front-running victory in 2012 at Santa Anita.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Doug O’Neill’s barn, which supports racehorse aftercare via a number of outlets, is known for using off-the-track Thoroughbreds as stable ponies – most famously, the barn’s multiple Grade 1 winner Lava Man, who accompanied 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another around the country.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer and co-owner Ron Moquett dubs Kentucky Derby contender Whitmore a “freak athlete” and named the gelding for an old friend who also fits that mold.
Moquett acquired Whitmore privately from breeder John Liviakis, and his Southern Spring Stables group owns him with Robert LaPenta and Harry Rosenblum. Moquett named the gelding for Wilbur Whitmore, a basketball teammate and football player at Pocola High School in Oklahoma.
Two-time leading sire Tapit and first-crop phenom Uncle Mo hold the strongest hands of the five stallions looking to pull off a rare Kentucky Derby-Kentucky Oaks double this week.
The last stallion to sire the Kentucky Oaks and Derby winner in the same year was the great Native Dancer, with Native Street and Kauai King in 1966.
Of all the roads that lead a horse and his connections to the Kentucky Derby, the most conventional path to this year’s edition went through the auction ring.
From the top 25 active Derby contenders by points as of Sunday, 15 were sold at least once at public auction, with an average hammer price of $330,632. Seven horses compete as homebreds, while two were acquired through private purchase and one was claimed.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although the modest past performances of Tom’s Ready would suggest that he is a horse unlikely to challenge in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the past performances of his trainer, Dallas Stewart, tell a different story. For three consecutive years, a Stewart-trained longshot has run second in one of the legs of the Triple Crown.
Golden Soul ran behind Orb in the 2013 Derby at 34-1 odds, Commanding Curve finished behind California Chrome in the 2014 Derby at 37-1, and Tale of Verve checked in behind American Pharoah in last year’s Preakness at 28-1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a wet weekend that impacted the workout schedule of several horses, the sun was shining bright on the Derby’s ol’ Kentucky home, Churchill Downs, on Monday as Derby Week commenced with three horses turning in their final drills for the 142nd Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Bob Baffert, one year removed from winning the Triple Crown with American Pharoah, put the finishing touches on his lone contender for this year’s Derby, Mor Spirit, just moments before trainer Steve Asmussen, seeking his first Derby win, sent out his pair of Creator and Gun Runner.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday, outside barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch, a gaggle of media swarmed around trainer Doug O’Neill to get the lowdown on Nyquist, the undefeated 2-year-old male champion who likely will be favored in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
A furlong or so away, outside barn 42, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin sat by himself in a folding chair, having just finished a cellphone conversation. Had things worked out differently in the Florida Derby four weeks ago, it likely would have been McLaughlin at the center of the media scrum.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans is back with a Kentucky Derby starter for the sixth time in seven years, which is pretty much the way he likes it.
“There’s nothing like leading one over for the Derby,” said Romans, a Louisville native and lifelong resident.
And with Brody’s Cause, the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes in his last start, Romans believes he has his best shot ever. Strictly in terms of odds, that could be true since the colt figures to be among the top five wagering choices in the 142nd Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
