LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At the beginning of the year, The Cliff's Edge was only the third choice among 3-year-olds in the barn of his trainer, Nick Zito. But while Eurosilver failed to even make the Derby, and Birdstone regressed this spring, The Cliff's Edge came to the fore. Wednesday, The Cliff's Edge was installed as the favorite to beat 19 other 3-year-olds in Saturday's 130th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
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Track: Fast
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 54
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Most of the important work for Saturday's Run for the Roses has been done. Over the next 72 hours the major focus for the majority of the 20 Derby starters is to keep them happy, keep them healthy, and perhaps hone a few of the rough edges with schooling sessions at the starting gate and in the paddock.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - In 1982, Jerry Bailey picked up his first Kentucky Derby mount. New Discovery rounded out the mutuel field, never got closer than 10th, and beat one horse while Gato Del Sol and Eddie Delahoussaye took the roses.
Bailey, at 24, was on his way to New York to make it big. His Derby horse's name had not escaped his imagination.
A full field of 20 3-year-olds was entered Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs for Saturday's 130th running of the Kentucky Derby. With more than the maximum number of 20 horses seeking spots in the starting gate, eligibility was determined by the most graded stakes earnings. Based on that criteria, as expected, Wood Memorial third-place finisher Eddington and Santa Anita Derby third-place finisher Rock Hard Ten were both excluded from the field.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shane Sellers is back to riding rainbows again. A catchy tune that Sellers sang in a country music career that briefly interrupted his two decades of riding racehorses now serves as a remarkably prescient metaphor for how his career has unfolded.
"Put a bridle on another dream and saddle up the wind," Sellers crooned on "Back to Riding Rainbows," the first track of an 11-song compact disc he recorded several years ago on the Nashville-based Lofton Creek label. "I'm back to riding rainbows again."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Put up a major race for older horses and chances are Bobby Frankel and Richard Mandella will be there. The two trainers have thrived with older runners throughout their careers, which began on opposite coasts and in differing circumstances but now parallel one another.
Track: Fast
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 45
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As the day of reckoning draws closer, Derby workouts get scarcer, and only two candidates for Saturday's race got in some serious work on a cold and blustery Tuesday morning.
The nip in the air certainly had most of the Derby hopefuls on their toes and eager to perform, including the undefeated Smarty Jones, who had a spirited gallop. There was also plenty of unexpected excitement during training hours with three horses getting loose from their riders, causing a few anxious moments for one Derby candidate.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After nominating a record 35 horses to this year's Triple Crown series, it is no surprise that trainer Todd Pletcher will run two horses in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Some may be surprised that the two are Limehouse and Pollard's Vision.
Limehouse, a son of Grand Slam, was precocious enough to win his maiden in April of his 2-year-old season, and is 2 for 2 at Churchill Downs, including a Derby Day win in the Bashford Manor. He won his first two starts at 3, including the Tampa Bay Derby, before finishing third in the Blue Grass Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Several of the leading contenders for Saturday's 130th Kentucky Derby, including likely favorite The Cliff's Edge, remained sharp on Monday with key final workouts. But the intrigue for this Derby continues to extend beyond the track because more than the maximum of 20 runners desire to participate in the race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ramon Dominguez is trying to become the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby with his first Derby mount since fellow Marylander Ronnie Franklin did it aboard Spectacular Bid in 1979.
After guiding Wood Memorial winner Tapit through his final Derby workout Monday at trainer Michael Dickinson's Tapeta Farm in North East, Md., Dominguez is feeling more confident he can pull it off.