Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Who's been making the best impression during training hours heading into the 152nd Kentucky Derby? Our boots on the ground and Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack reveals his top five favorite workouts recorded from the field of 20 beneath the Twin Spires. 1) CHIEF WALLABEE April 20, 2026 | 5F | 1:00.00 (2/11) This is the move that everyone is still talking about. Sporting blinkers for the second straight breeze (he'll wear them for the first time in the Derby), 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Chief...

Tune in to the 2026 Kentucky Derby edition of the TDN Writers' Room. The crew takes a deep dive into the full field and NBC racing analyst joins in to take a wider look at the Derby, plus Saturday's undercard and Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

Starship Beauty (Hard Spun--Callmethesqueeze, by Awesome Again), a half-sister to GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks winner and GI Kentucky Derby hopeful Fulleffort (Liam's Map), brought $310,000 from HX3 Incorporated during a one-horse 'flash sale' on the Fasig-Tipton Digital platform. Bidding closed Apr. 29 at 2 p.m. ET The 6-year-old mare was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, and was offered carrying her first foal by top 10 stallion Constitution. Starship Beauty is also a half-sister to 2025 GI Alabama Stakes heroine Power Squeeze (Union Rags) and to two-time stakes winner...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A 7:22 a.m. announcement over the PA system on the Churchill Downs backstretch welcomed Kentucky Oaks/Derby runners as well as Kentucky Derby winners to the track for a special 15-minute training window on a humid and overcast Tuesday morning. With the surface in terrific condition and officially listed as fast despite torrential, late-night thunderstorms, last year's Kentucky Derby winner and physically imposing Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) showed this year's class how it's done with a powerful gallop to get things started. His Bill Mott-trained...

Owner-Breeder Brian Daniel Burns has passed at the age of 78 following a brief battle with cancer. Larger than life with an entrepreneurial spirit, Burns launched his own company in 1980, underwriting disability insurance for athletes. The high-profile company worked with major sports leagues like the NFL and the MLB and their players. He eventually sold the company in 2007. Burns's first foray into the horse racing game was an instant and spectacular success. He and his father Jimmy--"The name's Jimmy," he would say if addressed by the formal Mr....

Six Speed (Not This Time), coming off a runner-up effort in the Mar. 28 G2 UAE Derby, tuned up for Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby with a four-furlong drill in :48.80 (12/24) Monday at Churchill Downs. With exercise rider Declan Cannon in the irons, the colt covered his opening furlong in :13.20, reached the quarter-mile in :25 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:01.60. "We're not going to change too much in the Derby," trainer Bhupat Seemar said. "He's a horse that likes to be up there. If they go fast,...

NBC Sports' live coverage from Churchill Downs begins with five hours on GI Kentucky Oaks day Friday and continues Saturday with 7 1/2 hours on GI Kentucky Derby day. NBC Sports' Derby day coverage features 10 races, with five hours on NBC and Peacock on Saturday (beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET), following the opening 2 1/2 hours beginning at noon ET on Peacock and NBCSN. Kentucky Oaks day coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN, leading into the first-ever Kentucky Oaks broadcast in prime time at 8...

Even at 94, there are always new horizons. As his old boss liked to say: "Everything is ahead of us: the best play has not been written, the best song has not been sung, the best building has not been built." And, of course, the best horse not been bred. So far as his own program is concerned, however, perhaps Leverett Miller has now cracked that one. His boss was the architect Wallace Harrison, who made a lasting impact on the urban topography of the 20th Century, designing the United...

Renegade (Into Mischief), a spectacular, come-from-behind winner for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher in the GI Arkansas Derby, was tabbed as the 4-1 morning-line favorite despite drawing the rail in a field of 20 set for next Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides. Renegade, a $975,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, is campaigned in partnership by Repole Stable and breeders Robert and Lawana Low. Pletcher has won the Kentucky Derby twice with Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (2017). The last horse to win the...

With one week to go until next Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, contenders began putting in their final works Friday. At Keeneland, Golden Tempo (Curlin) had his final timed drill for first-time Derby trainer Cherie DeVaux. Working inside of MGSW Brilliant Berti (Noble Mission {GB}), the GIII Lecomte Stakes winner clocked a half-mile in :47.40 (2/72). "He's had different company, and he's outworked each one," DeVaux said. "This was just a maintenance work and Brilliant Berti is a pretty good workhorse and he's older. We didn't want him (Golden Tempo) doing...

Has the time finally come to change the dates of the Triple Crown? In an article posted Apr. 13 on the Sports Business Journal website, it was reported that the GI Preakness Stakes would be pushed back a week to be held three weeks after the GI Kentucky Derby in 2027. Maryland Jockey Club President and General Manager Bill Knauf, however, quickly shot down the report and denied that any decision had been made regarding the date of next year's Preakness. Last year's Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) famously...

Kentucky Derby contenders Commandment and Renegade share more than just the top two spots on T.D. Thornton's TDN's Derby Top 20. Both Grade I winners are sons of supersire Into Mischief, both are out of graded stakes-winning mares and both were foaled and raised at Taylor Made Farm. Taylor Made's Frank Taylor noted that their team has enjoyed the ride of watching these two star colts progress toward the first Saturday in May. The high point so far was on March 28 when Commandment captured the GI Florida Derby in...