Kentucky Derby

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Leading Horse of the Year candidate Sovereignty (Into Mischief) continued his preparations for the upcoming GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a strong gallop on a brisk Saturday morning at Saratoga. "He'll breeze tomorrow, then hopefully one more time before he leaves," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said back by his barn during the break. "We've been on schedule. We mapped out a little, potential schedule for him and it's gone pretty well so far. He's been doing great." With the rising sun, morning mist and...

Last year's GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents--Ma'am, by Colonel John), who is expected to start next in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, will begin his stud career next year at Airdrie Stud at an introductory fee of $15,000. In addition to the 2024 Derby, Mystik Dan also won this year's GII Lukas Classic Stakes and GIII Blame Stakes. He was runner-up in last year's GI Preakness Stakes and third in the GI Arkansas Derby, and heads to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile as one of...

Sierra Leone (Gun Runner--Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon), last year's champion 3-year-old colt, will join the roster at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky next year, the operation announced Wednesday. Racing for Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook Smith and trained by Chad Brown, Sierra Leone is expected to make his final career start in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a race he won in 2024. Sierra Leone, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale when selling for $2.3 million, was tabbed a 'TDN...

Reigning Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bill Mott has been named recipient of the 2025 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award, the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners (KTO) announced Wednesday. Mott will be honored at the KTO's annual awards dinner Saturday, November 22 at the Kentucky Derby Museum. The Warner Jones Award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to Kentucky racing and sharing the passion exemplified by Jones, who spent 50 years on the Churchill Downs board, including eight as chairman during the iconic track's initial resurgence. Jones was the inaugural...

The dedication ceremony for the Sunday Silence mural, a new equine art installation celebrating the legendary racehorse, is set for Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at 2 p.m. in downtown Paris, Kentucky. The event is free and open to the public. The mural, created by equine artist Jaime Corum, depicts the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner in his iconic victory. The artwork is located on the side of the new Hotel Thoroughbred, set to open in the spring of 2026. The mural is a project of the Legends of Bourbon County non-profit...

Just like he did beneath the Twin Spires on the first Saturday in May in 2024, GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) shot up the rail once again to a dramatic victory in Saturday's GII Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. With jockey Francisco Arrieta subbing for the sidelined Brian Hernandez, Jr., Mystik Dan raced in an inside fourth through an opening quarter in :23.45. Awaiting racing room on the far turn as 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner) made a bold sweep for the lead, Mystik Dan finally found...

There's never a good time for a spill, but the one Sunday at Churchill Downs that landed Brian Hernandez Jr. in the intensive care unit at the University of Louisville Hospital could not have come at a worse time. Hernandez sustained seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a liver laceration that was treated by a minor surgical procedure. The doctors have told Hernandez he should expect to be out six to eight weeks. That means he will not be able to ride Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in Saturday's GII Lukas...

Brad Cox is native son of Louisville, Kentucky and proud of it. He also never goes anywhere without his trademark blue and white Brad Cox baseball cap. Career dreams? Of course he has them. One of these days, he might even take a vacation. Brad sat down with the TDN's Tim Wilkin to talk about that and a whole lot more. Here is the final installment of the Saratoga Q&A TDN: You grew up two blocks from Churchill Downs, correct? Brad Cox: That is correct. TDN: And you got a...

A new mural celebrating Sunday Silence will soon adorn downtown Paris, Kentucky, joining the town's growing collection of large-scale public equine art. The mural is a project of the Legends of Bourbon County non-profit organization, in conjunction with Stone Farm, which raised and campaigned the 1989 Horse of the Year. The artwork will depict Sunday Silence's iconic victory in the 1989 Kentucky Derby. It is being painted on the side of Hotel Thoroughbred, a new boutique hotel on Main Street that opens in Spring 2026. Renowned artist Jaime Corum, known...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Late in the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday, master of ceremonies Tom Durkin moved close to the microphone and declared it time for the "Smarty Party" to begin. The crowd that filled the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion for racing's annual feel-good day roared its approval. Within a few minutes, Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), winner of the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Preakness Stakes officially joined the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. The Pennsylvania-bred had been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 2010, but...

Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness Stakes, leads a class of seven who will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Friday morning. The champion 3-year-old of 2004, the lone selection in the contemporary category, joins racehorses Decathlon, Hermis and trainer George H. Conway, who were chosen by the 1900-1959 Historic Review Committee; and Edward L. Bowen, Arthur Hancock, III, and Richard Ten Broeck, who were elected by the Pillars of the Turf Committee. The induction...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It was a low-key celebration for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott Saturday night after Sovereignty (Into Mischief) continued his stampede through the 3-year-old male division. "Put a couple hamburgers on the grill," Mott said, sitting at his desk in his office at the Oklahoma Training Track on a soggy Sunday morning at Saratoga. "Good hamburgers, by the way. They were from Fresh Market. That was it. Then early to bed." When Mott got his barn Sunday morning, he looked down his shedrow and saw the...