Tue, 05/03/2011 - 15:57

Kentucky Derby: Twinspired looks to live up to name

Patrick Lang/Lang Photography
Twinspired will be making his second start on dirt in the Kentucky Derby.

Jimmy Shircliff and Harvey Diamond were inspired one day when staring at a particularly historic part of the Churchill Downs architecture when they came up with a name for a horse they owned. A gray colt by Harlan’s Holiday became Twinspired.

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 13:21

Zetcher thrilled to merely see Midnight Interlude make Kentucky Derby field

Some time after midnight, early last Monday morning, Arnold Zetcher and his wife Ellen stepped away from the news of Osama bin Laden’s death coming from their hotel room television set to look down from the balcony upon historic Boston Common, where a huge, mobile crowd had gathered to wave the flag and mark the occasion.

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 10:28

Kentucky Derby: Master of Hounds arrives from Ireland

Barbara D. Livingston
Master of Hounds gets off the van at Churchill after being flown in from Ireland.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Master of Hounds, the Irish raider who will attempt to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, arrived at Churchill Downs at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday morning following a flight from Ireland.

His van pulled into the stable area and was immediately taken to the quarantine barn, where he will reside during his stay here.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 10:27

Derby Kitten

Date Track Race
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 10:24

Kentucky Derby workouts: Archarcharch breezes three furlongs in slop

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tuesday morning was wet, cold, and unusually quiet at Churchill Downs, considering the Kentucky Derby is now only four days away.

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 10:08

2011 Kentucky Derby contenders ranked by graded earnings

DRF's Derby Watch

List of contenders for the 2011 Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs, updated daily and ranked by graded stakes earnings. The Kentucky Derby field is limited to 20 horses; if more than 20 enter, the entries are determined by the amount of graded stakes earnings each horse has accumulated.

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 09:48

Kentucky Derby: Toby's Corner out with injury

Maggie Kimmitt
Toby's Corner, with James Slater aboard, breezes at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryhland on Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The pot-hole filled road to the Triple Crown that derailed so many top 3-year-olds during the last several months claimed another victim Tuesday when Toby's Corner, a top-five choice for Saturday’s 137th Kentucky Derby, was withdrawn from consideration for the race due to an unspecified issue involving his left hind leg, his connections said.

Mon, 05/02/2011 - 16:18

Kentucky Derby: Track holding up to Mother Nature

Barbara D. Livingston
Midnight Interlude was one of five Derby horses to work over a wet Churchill Downs track Monday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Last month, an all-time record rainfall for April was recorded here. And there has been no let up as the 137th Kentucky Derby approaches on the first Saturday in May, forcing trainers to make last-second adjustments, hold their breath, and hope their horses handle whatever surface gets thrown at them.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Mon, 05/02/2011 - 15:58

Kentucky Derby: Watch Me Go allays O'Connell's fears about wet track

After trainer Kathleen O’Connell saw her Watch Me Go struggle to a sixth-place finish in the Illinois Derby over a racetrack officially listed as fast but which had plenty of moisture in it, the last thing she needed to see after arriving at Churchill Downs on Friday was more rain. But that’s exactly what O’Connell has gotten a steady dose of for the last three days while attempting to get a final prep into the horse representing her first Kentucky Derby starter on Saturday.

Mon, 05/02/2011 - 15:47

Kentucky Derby labeled ‘promotional priority’ by NBC

For a racing industry starving for national television coverage, NBC is ready to feed the beast through its marketing and promotion of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown series.