Kentucky Derby

Four weeks in advance of the 152nd running of the GI Kentucky Derby, bettors made GI Arkansas Derby winner Renegade (Into Mischief) the 4-1 favorite with GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Commandment (Into Mischief) the 7-1 second choice in the sixth and final pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW). The three-day pool closed Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in advance of the three final Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series races: Saturday's GI Blue Grass S., GII Wood Memorial and GI Santa Anita Derby. Horses in order...

Spendthrift Farm had a bitter pill to swallow over the winter when it was announced that their Eclipse Award-winning 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) would be forced to miss the 2026 Classics with bone bruising. It must be nice to have an understudy the caliber of Further Ado (Gun Runner), a fellow 'Rising Star' when graduating by no fewer than 20 lengths at bucolic Keeneland Race Course last October and now a fellow Grade I winner after toying with six other sophomores in Saturday's $1.25-million...

America's Best Racing, horse racing's national fan-development platform and marketing initiative funded by The Jockey Club, and the Hennegan Brothers, three-time Eclipse Award-winning filmmakers, will partner to launch Unbridled, the industry's first made-for-social vertical docuseries. The series will focus on storytelling of racing's major events, starting with the lead-up to the 2026 Kentucky Derby. Episodes of Unbridled have been filmed during key races on the Triple Crown trail and will roll out daily across ABR's digital and social platforms beginning this week. A trailer is available to view here. In...

Following his victory in the GI Arkansas Derby, Renegade (Into Mischief) has been tabbed the 4-1 morning-line favorite for the sixth and final pool for the GI Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Thursday at noon and closes Saturday at 6 p.m. Other top interests in Pool 6 include GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Commandment (Into Mischief) at 6-1; GIII Tampa Bay Derby winner and Florida Derby runner-up The Puma (Essential Quality) at 8-1; and GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth runner-up Chief Wallabee (Constitution) at 10-1. To see the complete...

Glen Eden. She says it's every bit as picturesque as it sounds. Two hundred acres across a valley in Chester, New Jersey: hunters and jumpers, 50 stalls, an indoor ring, another two outdoors. And a bunch of kids wanting to ride ponies. Nice, rural, domestic scene, a world away from the blue-collar grit of Aqueduct. Now, to be fair, horses take a ton of work wherever you are and whatever you're doing. "I mean, the sport-horse trainers, just like the racehorse trainers, it's a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week job," Kathy Kunsman points...

1) We still have one more Saturday of nine-furlong qualifying stakes for the GI Kentucky Derby, but it's a safe bet the GI Florida Derby will be the odds-on choice for being the prep race most likely to yield the winner on the first Saturday in May. Commandment (Into Mischief), The Puma (Essential Quality), and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Chief Wallabee (Constitution) each overcame different aspects of in-race adversity to arrive at the Gulfstream finish wire separated by one nose and half a length. All three will be...

Mike Repole and Robert and Lawana Low's Renegade (Into Mischief) exited his victory in Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby in fine form and will return to his South Florida base of Palm Beach Downs on Tuesday, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. "I just love the progression that he's making," Pletcher said. "Very, very happy for the Lows and the Repoles. Great win for them. We're just fortunate to have a colt of this quality." In his previous start, Renegade was a 3 ¾-length winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes at...

Timeless Victory (By My Standards) will be trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.'s final starter in Saturday's GI Florida Derby as the Florida horseman closes up shop after over 40 years at the track, it was announced via press release Friday. A second generation horseman, and one of the most successful horsemen in Florida racing history, Plesa will call it a career after the Kentucky Derby prep race concludes. His final starter in the Saturday feature will look to send his conditioner off in a big way, and despite being a longshot,...

Seven GI Kentucky Derby winners in the last 20 years--including last year's winner and Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief)--have used the GI Curlin Florida Derby as a launching pad to success on the first Saturday in May. Could we see another one emerge from Saturday's loaded renewal at Gulfstream Park? Chief Wallabee (Constitution) will look to punch his ticket to the big dance following a too-good-to-lose second to Commandment (Into Mischief) in a heart-stopping renewal of the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park Feb. 28....

The Japanese Road to the Kentucky Derby remains a wide-open affair, but the fourth and final leg of the series, Saturday's $226,736 Fukuryu Stakes (allowance) at Nakayama Racecourse, will be the final piece to the puzzle, with a field of 10 set to face the starter. The 'most valuable' of the races, with a total of 84 points on a 40-20-12-8-4 scale, technically any of the entrants can emerge with the automatic berth, some control their own destiny while others will need some luck. Though he has yet to participate...

The Arizona Department of Gaming has issued a license to  63-year-old jockey Patrick Valenzuela. He last rode professionally in 2016. Valenzuela has long struggled with substance abuse problems, as a result of which, the jockey has seen his license repeatedly suspended during a career that started in 1978. In 2018, Valenzuela pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic abuse charges after slapping his girlfriend at a Carlsbad, California, restaurant. He was arrested again in 2019 on spousal abuse charges, according to a 2025 California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) hearing document. After repeatedly...

This coming weekend's nine-furlong stakes at Oaklawn and Gulfstream have the potential to usher in a major shake-up within the rankings, with seven of the Top 12 listed below entered in either the GI Arkansas Derby or the GI Curlin Florida Derby. 1) PALADIN (c, Gun Runner--Secret Sigh, by Tapit) O-Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter M. Brant, Brook T. Smith, and Summer Wind Equine, LLC; B-Summer Wind Equine LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. Sales history: $1,900,000 Ylg '24 FTSAUG. Lifetime Record: MGSW, 3-3-0-0, $848,250. Last start: WON...