Derma Sotogake won his third consecutive start, and first stakes, in Wednesday’s $529,000 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at a mile for 2-year-olds at Kawasaki Racecourse in Japan, earning 20 qualifying points for the 2023 Kentucky Derby on May 6.
Derma Sotogake, finished a head in front of Omatsuri Otoko, who was a length in front of the previously unbeaten Perriere in a field of 14.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The mutuel field, the 40th or “all others” option, was the 4-5 favorite when Pool 2 of the 2023 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday evening following a four-day betting window.
Forte (10-1), Extra Anejo (13-1), and Loggins (19-1) were the lowest odds among the individually listed betting interests. Combined handle (win and exacta) totaled $162,112.
This is the first year for 40 betting interests in the Future Wager, which previously had been limited to 24 interests since Churchill Downs began offering parimutuel futures in 1999.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Officials at Churchill Downs announced Friday a series of slight modifications to the points system governing entry into the Kentucky Derby and Oaks in coming years, including toward next May, when both classics will be renewed. The series of preps toward the 2023 runnings were to begin Saturday with two Grade 3 races, the Iroquois and Pocahontas at Churchill.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The parallel roads to the 2023 Kentucky Derby and Oaks will both open Saturday when a pair of longstanding fixtures for 2-year-olds anchor an 11-race program at Churchill Downs.
The Iroquois, for 2-year-olds, and Pocahontas, for 2-year-old fillies, are part of an all-stakes pick five wager (races 7-11) that closes out the day. They are the first qualifying races toward their respective classics next May, each worth 17 points on a 10-4-2-1 basis.
Keen Ice will forever be remembered for an upset victory, as he ran down Triple Crown hero American Pharoah to win the 2015 Travers Stakes, stunning an enthusiastic crowd at Saratoga as he returned $34 for the win.
Rich Strike said, ‘Dad, hold my mint julep.’
Rich Strike, from the first crop of Calumet Farm stallion Keen Ice, pulled off the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history on Saturday evening at Churchill Downs, shocking a full house as he overhauled favored Epicenter in the final stages and returning $163.60.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rich Strike, the improbable winner of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, headed home to Lexington on Sunday from Churchill Downs, and will spend a bit more than a week at trainer Eric Reed’s private training center, Mercury Equine, before embarking on the next step of his journey, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although he just missed winning the Kentucky Derby with Epicenter, marking the third time he’s finished second in the Derby, trainer Steve Asmussen still had himself a terrific two days at Churchill Downs. He recorded two Grade 1 victories, with Pauline’s Pearl in the La Troienne on Friday and with male sprint champ Jackie’s Warrior in the Churchill Downs on Saturday.
As with Epicenter, both Jackie’s Warrior and Pauline’s Pearl were ridden by Joel Rosario.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If veteran trainer Eric Reed had not been saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter on Saturday, “I promise you I would have been on the lake fishing.”
Instead, Reed landed the big one on Saturday at Churchill Downs, as Rich Strike went from the Derby also-eligible list to the winner’s circle draped in roses as the second-biggest upset winner in race history.
The morning after the improbable victory that Reed called “an absolute miracle,” the trainer was affably adjusting to the intense attention now centering on his barn.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the field turned into the stretch, trainer Chad Brown had every right to believe he was finally going to get his first Kentucky Derby victory late Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs, as his Blue Grass winner Zandon loomed up in perfect striking position just behind the favored Epicenter. It was a scenario he had experienced twice before, with Normandy Invasion in 2013 and again with Good Magic five years later, both of whom also appeared poised to win the Derby a quarter-mile from the wire.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Steve Asmussen was too much in shock to be disappointed.
“When they tell me this happened tomorrow, I’m still going to go ‘Are you sure?’ ” Asmussen, the trainer of Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter, said. “Really? Like, that’s what happened?"
What happened was Epicenter, the Kentucky Derby favorite, was passed to his inside by Rich Strike, at 80.80-1 the longest shot on the board in Saturday’s 148th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs, and was beaten three-quarters of a length. He finished that same margin in front of Zandon.
