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.
Donnie Richardson, the former vice president of racing at Churchill Downs who had a wealth of experience beyond his role at the company, including acting as an agent for three Hall of Fame jockeys, died on Tuesday morning at Norton Brownsboro hospital in Louisville, according to friends of his family. Richardson, who died of pulmonary fibrosis, was 75.
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.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Champions Gamine and Whitmore, Pegasus World Cup Turf winner Colonel Liam, and other major names highlight the six graded stakes preceding the Kentucky Derby on Saturday's blockbuster card at Churchill Downs.
The 14-race marathon of action has a first post of 10:30 a.m. Eastern, with the Derby set to go off at 6:57 p.m.
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.”
It began last November when few people were watching. With the focus of the racing world at that time on the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, Kendrick Carmouche went on a hot streak, winning nine races over three days at Aqueduct.
Sure, he took advantage of the absence of the big-name riders such as Irad Ortiz Jr, Jose Ortiz, Luis Saez, and Joel Rosario. But when those guys returned, Carmouche did not stop winning. He capped a terrific Aqueduct fall meet by winning the Cigar Mile, his first career Grade 1 victory. He won the meet riding title.
ARCADIA, Calif. – This year’s Kentucky Derby is not trainer John Sadler’s first rodeo, only his best. As in, best chance.
Rock Your World, the undefeated Santa Anita Derby winner, marks Sadler’s first Kentucky Derby runner in seven years. Four of his previous starters finished off the board, and the California native has not been back since 2014.
“I’ve learned you don’t go back without a contender. You want to go back with a good shot,” Sadler said. “I wouldn’t be going just for the trip. I’m going with a better horse.”
