Growing up a horse-crazed kid in Midway, Ky., Nick Bush had dreams of one day riding a Kentucky Derby winner. In a way, that dream was realized last weekend, when Always Dreaming romped to a 2 3/4-length victory in the 143rd Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.
While John Velazquez was the jockey of record, Bush played an important role in getting Always Dreaming to the race in the best possible shape.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On any given morning, Tom Bohannan can be spotted on the Churchill Downs backstretch, quietly going about the business of moving horses from point A to point B for Brook Ledge Horse Transportation.
A quarter-century ago, the racetrack chores were quite different for Bohannan. That’s when he was ascending – if ever so briefly – to the top of his profession as a Thoroughbred trainer.
“It was a pretty exciting time,” recalled Bohannan, now white-haired at age 61.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Classic Empire, who figures as the second wagering choice in the 142nd Preakness on May 20 at Pimlico, went to the track for the first time since the Kentucky Derby and jogged as dawn was breaking Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
“He was awesome this morning,” Norman Casse, son and assistant of trainer Mark Casse, said as Classic Empire was cooling out.
ELMONT, N.Y. - While his Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming was en route to Baltimore Tuesday morning, trainer Todd Pletcher was at his home base of Belmont Park, overseeing the training of about 40 head of horses, many of whom he hasn’t seen in a while.
“The hardest thing so far is getting caught up on everything else,” said Pletcher, who also has horses in Saratoga and south Florida. “You’re always playing catch-up after the Derby whether you win or not, certainly after you win more so.”
Jim Dunleavy, the Mid-Atlantic correspondent for the Daily Racing Form, has been selected for the Old Hilltop Award, an annual award presented by the Maryland Jockey Club “for covering Thoroughbred racing with excellence and distinction.”
Led by Always Dreaming, the Kentucky Derby winner, five horses from the Derby and five newcomers to the Triple Crown trail make up the prospective field for the Preakness Stakes on May 20 at Pimlico.
Always Dreaming, who has won four races in a row, will try to become the second Triple Crown winner in three years but only the second since 1978. As of Monday, a field of 10 was shaping up for the Preakness, with four of the 19 horses who futilely gave chase to Always Dreaming on Saturday at Churchill Downs back to try again.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Multiplier’s first try against other winners produced a graded-stakes victory when the colt gamely captured the Grade 3, $250,000 Illinois Derby on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. Multiplier rejoined trainer Brendan Walsh’s string at Keeneland on Sunday, and Walsh was pleased with the horse he saw return to Kentucky from Chicago.
“He looks like he came out of it pretty good,” Walsh said. “He’s so laid-back, he just takes everything in stride.”
STICKNEY, Illinois – Multiplier had never even run in a race when the calendar flipped to 2017, but the 3-year-old colt has come around quickly the last three months, and on Saturday evening at Hawthorne Race Course he won his stakes debut, capturing the Grade 3, $250,000 Illinois Derby by a head over favored Hedge Fund.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Iliad, fifth as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Wednesday that he does not think Iliad will have sufficient qualifying points to gain one of the 20 berths in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6. As of last weekend’s leading prep races, Iliad had 20 qualifying points and ranked 24th among candidates.
The Maryland Jockey Club will again offer a $100,000 trainers' bonus competition on Preakness weekend, May 19-20.
Trainers who start at least five horses in stakes at Pimlico on Preakness weekend will earn points on a 10-7-5-3 scale if their horses finish first through fourth. Horses who finish fifth or lower will earn one point.
The six trainers with the most points will split up $100,000, with $50,000 going to first, $25,000 to second, $12,000 to third, $7,000, to fourth, $4,000 to fifth, and $2,000 to sixth.
