Epicenter

"The Derby gods." It's a device that tells us rather more about us than them. We know there's no such thing, really; and that if they did exist, they would find sadistic satisfaction in stringing us along in the delusion that they will ultimately even out their torments and benedictions, only to let the ground fall away beneath us just as we reach for the stars. But that's actually how our way of life-inherently so frivolous, just a herd of ponies running round in circles-connects us with the fundamentals of...

Trainer Steve Asmussen sent likely GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks favorites Epicenter (Not This Time) and Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) out to work at Churchill Downs Sunday morning. Exercise rider Wilson Fabian was aboard for both works. "Both horses are training extremely well. It's obviously exciting going into the Oaks and the Derby to have two horses of this caliber doing so well," Asmussen said. Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, coming off wins in the GII Risen Star S. and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 (7/26)...

It's last call for many in Keeneland's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. as the race to solidify, or sneak into, the GI Kentucky Derby starting gate enters the final furlong. In Due Time (Not This Time) heads this field with an ever-improving resume in both distance and class. A debut winner in the mud at Monmouth last summer, the chestnut was shelved for six months, resurfacing with a third in a Gulfstream optional claimer Jan. 8. A dominant optional claimer winner next out when extended to a mile in Hallandale Feb....

With less than four weeks remaining until the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen's duo of top contenders Epicenter (Not This Time) and Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) returned to the worktab Sunday at Churchill Downs for the first time since their respective victories two weeks ago in the GII Louisiana Derby and GII Fair Grounds Oaks. Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, the potential favorite in the Kentucky Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:01 flat (7/22) Sunday at 5:50 a.m. while his stablemate, L and...

Fans will have the final pari-mutuel opportunity to bet on this year's GI Kentucky Derby in advance of the May 7 race beginning Thursday at noon ET through Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET for Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager ("KDFW"). Pool 5 of the KDFW features 24 betting interests and the 5-1 early morning-line favorite is Winchell Thoroughbreds' GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter (Not This Time). Unlike the previous three-day Kentucky Derby Future Wager opportunities, Pool 5 will feature an early start Thursday and will close...

There was a time when you would load as much experience and conditioning as possible into a Kentucky Derby horse, as a mere adolescent required to jostle with 19 others through 10 furlongs. Nowadays, however, trainers are trying to reach Churchill Downs across a highwire stretched to a thread by two diametrically opposed imperatives. One is their conviction, whether through perception or presumption, that the typical, commercial-bred Thoroughbred of today can only stand up to a much lighter schedule. The other is to secure enough gate points in the trials....

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton Epicenter (Not This Time) is the first horse on this year's GI Kentucky Derby trail to arrive back in the proverbial clubhouse. His afternoon work is finished for the next six weeks, and he's earned his berth in America's most important horse race in a thoroughly professional manner that checks many of the boxes on the Derby desirability list. Epicenter's never-in-doubt dismantling of the GII Louisiana Derby field serves as a microcosm of his overall body of work: He's an adept breaker from...

Winchell-owned and Steve Asmussen-trained Epicenter (Not This Time) gave his connections a sweep of the day's 3-year-old features, scoring a good-looking victory in the GII Louisiana Derby just one race after his champion stablemate Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) took the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. The victory puts Epicenter back at the top of the GI Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The even-money favorite established position on the rail, sitting in a close third as 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings) carved out splits of :23.27 and :47.35 with Pioneer of Medina (Pioneerof the...

First things first: let's give their chance to the guys off the bench. Okay, so there are going to be plenty of eyeballs rolled now that three of Bob Baffert's four Derby migrants are joining a former assistant, on the same circuit, with a total of 38 starters to his name this year—especially as it was the handling of another Baffert medication violation that reportedly caused the scuffle between this same gentleman and a fellow trainer at Clocker's Corner one morning last April. (Both were fined $500.) The wiseguys will...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen teamed up back in 2016 to take the GII Louisiana Derby with future Horse of the Year Gun Runner and that team is back with a strong chance in this year's renewal with Epicenter (Not This Time). Graduating at second asking at Churchill Downs Nov. 13, the bay was an appropriate and dominant winner of the Gun Runner S. at this venue Dec. 26. Missing by a head to Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute) in the GIII Lecomte S. here Jan. 22, the $260,000...

On the opening day of the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, just 7 1/2 weeks ahead of the First Saturday in May, buyers will have a chance to purchase the half-siblings to a pair of GI Kentucky Derby contenders. The first of the two to go through the ring Mar. 15 will be an Always Dreaming half-brother to GII Risen Star S. winner Epicenter (Not This Time). Consigned by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables as Hip 121, the bay is out of stakes winner and GSP Silent Candy (Candy Ride...

Their grandfather first invested in horseflesh when just 14 years old. "I remember him telling me about an oil boom they had in Warren County," Mike Harris recalls. "Back then, the oil rigs were just pulled around on skids, and they'd hire somebody with a team to pull them from location to location. So he started out with one team, and then he hired a couple of his buddies and bought two more, and soon they were moving these rigs all over the county. So he was quite a businessman...