Kentucky Derby

The Grade II, $750,000 Wood Memorial Presented by Resorts World Casino is the richest of 12 added-money events scheduled worth a combined $2.675 million for the Aqueduct spring meeting, to be held Apr. 4 through Apr. 28. NYRA has increased the purse of six stakes to be contested during the Aqueduct spring meet. Four listed events have received a $50,000 boost, including the Top Flight S., Danger's Hour S., Plenty of Grace S. and Memories of Silver S. The GIII Distaff H. and the Woodhaven S. have each been increased...

Nadine Seckman, a junior at Atherton High School, has been named the grand prize winner of the 38th annual Horsing Around With Art competition, presented by WinStar Farm. The HAWA Grand Prize is awarded to the artist whose work best captures the spirit of the Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs Racetrack President, Mike Anderson, said Seckman's piece embodied the emotion of Derby. "For 149 years, it's been about the horse. And for Derby 150, this portrait of the horse in front of the Twin Spires captures the very spirit of the...

Second Stride, which rehabs, retrains and rehomes retired Thoroughbred racehorses, will open its 2024 fundraising efforts with twin raffles for third-floor boxes for six people, one box each for Kentucky Derby and Oaks Day donated by Churchill Downs. In the spirit of May 3-4 being the 150th runnings of America's favorite race and its filly counterpart, only 150 tickets will be sold at $150 apiece for the Derby and for $125 apiece for the Oaks. Buy raffle tickets for the all-inclusive boxes (including food and alcoholic beverage) here. The drawings...

Trainer Bob Baffert took to X late Monday afternoon to report that he has told his legal team to drop the appeal to the result of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, from which Zedan Racing Stable's Medina Spirit (Protonico) was disqualified for a betamethasone positive. The post read: "I have instructed my attorneys to dismiss the appeal related to the disqualification of Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Zedan Racing owner, Amr Zedan, and I have decided that it is best to positively focus on the present and future...

The pari-mutuel field of "All Other Colts and Geldings from the 2021 Foal Crop" closed as the 2-1 favorite in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, while GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Fierceness (City of Light) was the 8-1 second choice. Other horses who attracted mild interest from bettors: GII Remsen S. runner-up Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) (13-1); GII Remsen S. winner and the full-brother to GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Dornoch (Good Magic) (15-1); Breeders' Cup Juvenile third Locked (Gun Runner) (18-1); recent Gulfstream Park maiden winner...

When Perry Ouzts wired the field aboard an 8-1 maiden filly named Caberneigh (Munnings) at Turfway Park last Wednesday night, the 69-year-old jockey established a milestone that garnered little notice in the racing world. The victory extended Ouzts's remarkable streak of having ridden at least one winner in a calendar year to 52 consecutive seasons. Think about the scope of that accomplishment for a moment. On Apr. 2, 1973, Ouzts, then 18, rode his first lifetime winner on just his second day as a licensed apprentice, guiding home an Ohio-bred...

A day after Track Phantom (Quality Road)'s win in the GIII Lecomte S. at Fair Grounds Saturday, trainer Steve Asmussen was already looking forward to starting the 3-year-old colt in the Feb. 17 GII Risen Star S. The sophomore, who ended 2023 with a win in the Gun Runner S., will be following the same New Orleans path to the GI Kentucky Derby that Asmussen used for Epicenter (Not This Time) two years ago. Epicenter won the Gun Runner in 2021 and finished second in the Lecomte to begin his...

Mullion (Into Mischief--Brooch, by Empire Maker), a full-brother to GI Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun, will stand at Sequel New York in partnership with Juddmonte in 2024. The 4-year-old, nosed out of a debut win at Ellis Park in August of 2022, returned from 14 months on the sidelines to graduate by 10 lengths going one mile at Churchill Downs Nov. 5. The victory earned the well-bred colt the 'TDN Rising Star' designation and an impression 4-Ragozin Number. "Mullion is a beast to look at. He showed freakish brilliance, so much...

Juddmonte's Mandaloun (Into Mischief--Brooch, by Empire Maker) was represented by his first foal over the weekend, according to a representative for the farm Thursday afternoon. The foal, a filly, was born at Jay Goodwin's Kentucky-based Goodwin Farm out of a mare not named in the release. The dam of the new filly is reported to be "out of a stakes-producing Gone West mare whose dam is a full-sister to [Canadian] Horse of the Year Dance Smartly and half-sister to the breed-shaping stallion Smart Strike." The bay filly is "big and...

To get his new business off the ground--or at least out of the basement of his house in Iowa--Dennis Albaugh took out an SBA loan of $10,000. "Against the house," he says. "Had to talk my wife into that. Then I bought an old tanker and, my first trip out, I loaded up with chemicals headed for South Dakota. And all the way up there I'm thinking, 'Hey, this is really a good truck.' It just runs a little better all the way up. I get there, I get out,...

The third pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager will open Friday with 40 betting options led by individual favorite Fierceness (City of Light), who is 8-1 on the morning line, and "All Other 3-Year-Olds" from the 2021 foal crop not listed in the field as the 7-5 overall betting choice. The three-day pool closes Sunday at 6 p.m. There are six Future Wager pools scheduled in advance of the 2024 Kentucky Derby: Oct. 31-Nov.2 (Pool 1); Nov. 23-26 (Pool 2); Jan. 19-21 (Pool 3); Feb. 16-18 (Pool 4); Mar....

Bred in New Jersey, Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) is a 3-year-old, has been beaten only once in five starts, has won three stakes and is coming off a career-best effort when beating up on five inferior rivals in the Jan. 13 Pasco S. at Tampa Bay Downs. With most owners and trainers, to have a horse like that would mean they'd be hyper-focused on getting to the GI Kentucky Derby. But not trainer Derek Ryan or the partnership that races under the name of Atlantic Six Racing LLC. They're headed...