LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On the eve of the 2011 Kentucky Derby, a downcast Mike Repole joined trainer Todd Pletcher on a podium in the press room at Churchill Downs to announce the scratch of Uncle Mo, the 2-year-old champion of 2010 and second choice on the morning line.
The signs were there all week that Uncle Mo, dealing with what would ultimately be diagnosed as a liver disorder, wouldn’t make the race, though his connections entered hoping for a miracle that didn’t come.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Derma Sotogake, the UAE Derby winner, and Sun Thunder, the Risen Star Stakes runner-up, put in workouts Tuesday morning as major preparations for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs begin to wind down.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has been bringing horses to the Kentucky Derby for more than two decades. His 62 starters are a record. His 22 Kentucky Derby appearances are second only to his former boss and mentor D. Wayne Lukas (29). He has won the race twice.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 50
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The post positions have been drawn but the prep work is not quite over for the 14 fillies set to contest Friday’s Kentucky Oaks and the 20 colts targeting the Kentucky Derby 24 hours later.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The four first-time trainers with a horse expected to start in this year's Kentucky Derby have sent out well over 20,000 starters combined in races around the globe, according to Equineline statistics. The three jockeys set to ride their first Derby have taken a leg up more than 21,000 times.
But despite all their experiences, there’s nothing quite like this.
"This is it," said trainer Larry Rivelli, who will saddle Two Phil's as his first Kentucky Derby starter. "This is what we do this for. It's a dream come true."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The suspense ended early for Forte and his trainer Todd Pletcher.
Forte was the first name called in Monday’s post-position draw, and he was assigned stall 15 for Saturday’s $3 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs where he was installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite on Churchill Downs’ line-maker Mike Battaglia’s morning-line. Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona made Forte the 7-2 morning-line favorite.
Churchill Downs
Monday, May 1
Weather: Showery
Temperature: 47°
Track: Fast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Light rain was falling and temperatures were unseasonably cold once again when the racetrack opened for business at 5:15 a.m. Monday at Churchill Downs, with the trainers of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Oaks starters now in the process of putting the finishing touches on their preparations for the two big events now just days away.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 19.1 percent of U.S. adults had any anxiety disorder in the past year, while 8.4 percent had at least one major depressive episode. Those figures would represent approximately 3.8 people and 1.7 people, respectively, out of a group of 20.
Ramon Vazquez has ridden Practical Move in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs many times in his mind.
“I can be in the middle of the pack,” he said over the weekend, envisioning the first run through the stretch. “I want to be out of trouble.”
On the backstretch, Practical Move will ideally be in a stalking position.
“I would like to be three or four lengths behind the speed and start moving up,” Vazquez said. “By the stretch, I hope to be on the lead. My dream is I win the race.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After starting a Kentucky Derby horse in 2016, 2017, and 2018, trainer Keith Desormeaux had to wait five years for his next Derby runner, Confidence Game.
Desormeaux, come Derby Day, will have waited 10 weeks to run Confidence Game back after the colt won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park. And even with the Derby still a week away, Desormeaux couldn’t wait for people to stop asking about the unusually long break between final prep and Derby start.
