Kentucky Derby
Favorite: Easy Goer (Alydar). Every once in a while a horse comes around that makes you believe that nothing is impossible. They don't just win, they win effortlessly. They don't just run fast, they break track records. They have the perfect pedigree. They're in the right hands. What can they accomplish? What can't they accomplish? That was the way I felt about Easy Goer. After losing his debut by a nose, Easy Goer reeled off four straight wins, including the 1988 GI Champagne S. He would win by four, five...
Churchill Downs will host a day-long at-home Kentucky Derby party in an effort to raise $2 million for COVID-19 emergency relief efforts. With this season's Kentucky Derby postponed until Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a special broadcast will be aired on NBC May 2, from 3 to 6 p.m. EST. The telecast will feature American Pharoah's 2015 Kentucky Derby in addition to Churchill Downs' first ever virtual horse race--The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown, a computer-simulated version of a race. "For many fans around the country, the first...
Last year's GII Remsen S. winner Shotski (Blame) traveled to Dubai only to ship back home again without racing when the G2 UAE Derby was canceled. He was given some time off after shipping back stateside, but is now back in training with Jeremiah O'Dwyer. The sophomore, who was second in the Feb. 1 GIII Withers S. and fourth in the Feb. 29 GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S., is expected to return to the work tab later this week. "I've given him a bit of down time after coming...
With the 2020 GI Kentucky Derby moved from its customary date on the first Saturday in May to the first Saturday in September, Horse Racing Radio Network will produce a special one-hour broadcast showcasing 20 of the greatest Kentucky Derby winners in history competing in a 1 1/4-mile Fantasy Derby. The broadcast, presented by Claiborne Farm, will air from 5 - 6 p.m. ET May 2. Listeners can tune-in on Sirius 219/XM 201 along with select HRRN terrestrial affiliates. Live streaming will also be provided on the network's website. The...
Top GI Kentucky Derby contender Tiz the Law (Constitution) had his first breeze since winning the GI Curlin Florida Derby two weeks ago, covering a half-mile in :52.80 (66/69) at Palm Meadows Saturday morning. "He was just stretching his legs," owner Sackatoga Stable's managing partner Jack Knowlton said. "We obviously don't have anything on the horizon, but we have to keep him in training. That's his first work back. In a normal world he'd work back in 10 days, 11 days. We don't want to go backwards on him, but...
Courtesy Oaklawn Barn Notes Bob Baffert has had to hit the reset button in pursuit of his record-tying sixth GI Kentucky Derby victory. Fortunately for the Hall of Fame trainer, he still has the same buttons to push. The first comes Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn when he sends out 5-2 program favorite Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) in the $200,000 Oaklawn S. for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. Thousand Words, a $1-million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, is among four highly regarded Kentucky Derby prospects for the Southern California-based Baffert,...
Wells Bayou (Lookin at Lucky) returned to the work tab for the first time since his Mar. 21 GII Louisiana Derby victory with a four-furlong drill in :49.80 (32/56) at Oaklawn Park Monday. With the GI Kentucky Derby postponed until September and no new date yet released for the GI Preakness S., the bay colt could make his next start in the May 2 GI Arkansas Derby. "We'd love to win the Arkansas Derby," co-owner Lance Gasaway told the Oaklawn Park media team after watching Wells Bayou train Saturday morning....
TDN is proud to partner with the Keeneland Library and the Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries in a very special collaboration: the Keeneland 'Life's Work' Oral History Project, a series of filmed interviews by TDN columnist Chris McGrath with significant figures in the Thoroughbred industry. An excerpt from current installment, with Dr. Gary Lavin, appears here. As Will Rogers said, the best doctors in the world are the veterinarians--because their patients can't talk. "And that's true," says Gary Lavin. "But at the same...
Still another track, Golden Gate Fields, was forced to stop racing last week, leaving only a precious few wagering opportunities for action-hungry horseplayers. But more betting opportunities are on their way--even if they aren't necessarily the real thing. Wagering on virtual horse races is now being offered by three ADWs and more are expected to come on board soon. The contestants are computer generated horses or greyhounds that dart across the screen in real time, battling it out against one another to see who gets to the wire first. Virtual...
The New York Racing Association has yet to announce if it will move the date of the GI Runhappy Travers S., but at least one owner of a top 3-year-old has weighed in. Jack Knowlton, whose Sackatoga Stable owns GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Tiz the Law (Constitution), said it would be "suicidal" to run the race on its scheduled date of Aug. 29. An Aug. 29 Travers would mean that it would be run one week before a rescheduled GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5. Considering that top horses very...
When asked at his Friday press briefing whether or not he will give tracks in his state permission any time soon to hold races without fans in the stands, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear made it clear that he will require the tracks to stay closed for the foreseeable future. "At least as long as you are seeing an escalation (of the coronavirus), you would still have to have groups of people that would have to come together to make that happen," he said. "It would be the same as the...
Seventeen years ago, Jack Knowlton's band-of-buddies Sackatoga Stable took the racing world by storm when their "gutsy gelding" Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) upset the GI Kentucky Derby before adding the GI Preakness S. and becoming one of the most popular horses of his generation. Things look much different for Sackatoga these days, with almost all new faces, but Knowlton remains the constant, and now he and his partners have another top Kentucky Derby contender to get excited about in GI Curlin Florida Derby victor Tiz the Law (Constitution). Knowlton joined...