LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mario Gutierrez watched Animal Kingdom win the Kentucky Derby last year on a television in the jockeys’ room at Hastings Race Course in Vancouver, Canada. Little could he have possibly known that he would be riding in the Derby the following year.
“It’s every jockey’s fantasy,” said Gutierrez, who has the mount on I’ll Have Another in the 138th Run for the Roses on Saturday. “It is what you dream about. I feel very lucky to be here.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At first, trainer Michael Matz wasn’t so thrilled with Union Rags's draw of post 4 for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, believing he might be down too far inside. But upon further review, Matz thinks it might not be such a bad post after all.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gemologist has won all five of his starts, including the important Wood Memorial last time out. He also owns two victories here at Churchill Downs. His trainer, Todd Pletcher, won the Derby just two years ago, has won five Eclipse Awards, and leads the nation in purse earnings this year. And his jockey, Javier Castellano, has won more money this year than anyone in his profession.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Rajiv Maragh finally got some sleep Wednesday night.
Earlier in the day, he received the phone call from trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirming that he would ride Wood Memorial runner-up Alpha in Saturday’s $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Ever since Maragh worked Alpha at Belmont Park last Saturday, it was widely believed he would get the mount, but it always came with the caveat that McLaughlin could switch if someone like Ramon Dominguez - who had ridden Alpha three times this year - became available.
Of the 20 riders in the starting gate for the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, perched on thin stirrups and grabbing mane, only four of them know what it’s like to win the whole ball of wax.
For the rest such a moment is only a dream, elusive as perfection. There is only one Kentucky Derby each year and only so many years in a career that could end at any moment, accompanied by the sound of a clipped heel and the feel of hard, rising ground.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As usual, the way the Churchill toteboard looks when the Derby runners enter the starting gate Saturday will provide a fascinating contrast to how betting unfolded through the winter and spring in the three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hansen’s name had yet to be called and there were only two slots left in the starting gate when post positions were assigned late Wednesday afternoon for Saturday’s 138th Kentucky Derby.
There was a big cheer from the Hansen section of the audience when the name Daddy Long Legs was assigned the dreaded rail post, leaving 2011 juvenile champion Hansen to start from No. 14.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert knows all about the luck of the draw. Had he still been in the air, instead of on the ground, when he suffered a heart attack in late March in Dubai, he doesn’t think he would be have been here at Churchill Downs for the post position draw on Wednesday, the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, nothing.
“He thought he was checking out,” said Baffert’s close friend, owner Bernie Schiappa.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Projected favorites Bodemeister and Union Rags avoided landing post positions to the extreme inside or outside when in Wednesday afternoon’s post draw for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
The former, the Churchill Downs morning-line favorite at 4-1, drew post 6, while Union Rags, the 9-2 second choice, has post 4. Daily Racing Form National Handicapper Mike Watchmaker has Bodemeister at 9-2 and Union Rags at 5-1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Before dawn Sunday morning at Churchill, the wearing of a parka wouldn’t have been entirely absurd. Pockets of truly cold air drifted through the darkness. Three days later, the Downs has turned subtropical. The temperature Tuesday night didn’t drop much below 70 degrees, and the mercury was expected to hit 90 late Wednesday afternoon.
