Churchill Downs Inc. and Nevada casinos remain dead-locked in a longstanding dispute over the company’s simulcast signals, but race books in the state were given authorization last week to offer fixed-odds bets on this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, in defiance of Churchill’s demands.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Canonero II posting arguably the most improbable upset in Derby history.

Canonero quickly became the darling of Venezuela, where the colt had trained prior to making an arduous journey to the U.S. to win the 1971 Derby as a member of the mutuel field. The $1,200 yearling purchase went on to win the Preakness but faded to fourth in the Belmont Stakes.

A veritable smorgasbord of wagering options is available to fans on both the Oaks and Derby Day programs, including several two-day wagers starting with the Friday card.

The two-day bets are:

◗ A $2 pick six comprising Grade 1 events: the La Troienne and Oaks on Friday, followed by the Derby City Distaff, Churchill Downs, Old Forester, and Derby on Saturday. (Last year’s pool, $452,357.)

◗ A 50-cent pick three linking the Oaks, Old Forester, and Derby. (Last year’s pool, $414,613.)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Everybody has their ups and downs, but c’mon – what Luis Saez has crammed into a relatively short time is mind-boggling.

Saez, 28, enjoys the kind of prosperous life that people his age can only dream of. He’s a wildly successful jockey, one who zoomed to the very top of his profession in just a few years. Since leaving his native Panama for the United States in 2009, his mounts have won 2,600 races and nearly $136 million in purse money. He has accumulated more wealth in a dozen years of riding racehorses than most people can hope to earn in a lifetime.

The road to this Kentucky Derby officially began on the undercard of the postponed 2020 Derby, last Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. The Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes awarded 10 qualifying points to its winner, Sittin On Go. He’ll be racing this Saturday at Churchill, but in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile, as he hasn’t won since the Iroquois.

Meanwhile, the colts who finished second and third behind him, Midnight Bourbon and Super Stock, both won graded races this year to earn their way into the Derby. 

Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie is looking to further burnish the credentials of his late breeder, Edward Cox, Jr., in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Some of the final standout horses bred by Cox, who died in March 2019 at age 83, include Hot Rod Charlie and his half-brother Mitole, a sprint champion.

Keith Asmussen has spent a lifetime in racing as the patriarch of one of the sport’s most accomplished families, but on Saturday the 79-year-old horseman will experience a whole new chapter in the game when Super Stock runs in the Kentucky Derby. Appropriately, Super Stock’s journey to the gate has gone through three generations of Asmussens.

Keith and 58-year-old son Cash Asmussen, the 1979 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice turned five-time champion jockey in France, gave Super Stock his earliest lessons at the family’s El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jim McIngvale, the Houston furniture-store owner who has often made large bets as hedges on promotions at his stores, will bet “at least” $2 million to win on the Kentucky Derby favorite this year, McIngvale confirmed on Tuesday.

Tuesday, April 27
Churchill Downs
Weather: Sunny
Track: Fast
Temp: 67

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The gang’s all here.

All 20 Kentucky Derby starters are now on the grounds, 17 of whom went out to train in one form or another under balmy skies Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. Unfortunately, the pleasant conditions may be short lived, with rain in the forecast for the local area on Wednesday and into Thursday morning.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Charlotte Weber was at Churchill Downs 39 years ago when her Live Oak Plantation silks made their Kentucky Derby debut atop a late-running colt named Laser Light. Only the winner, Gato Del Sol, was ahead of Laser Light at the end of the 1982 Derby.

“It was the happiest second of my life,” Weber recalled recently from her home near Ocala, Fla. “I remember it well. It was an exhilarating race. We were kind of lugging behind and I thought, ‘Oh well, we don’t stand a snowball’s chance.’ And here he came, a-loping along. And it was thrilling.”