Kentucky Derby

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Funny Cide (Distorted Humor), the popular New York-bred gelding, who flirted with the 2003 Triple Crown and was the 3-year-old champion, died Sunday from complications of colic. Owned by Sackatoga Stable, formed by Jack Knowlton and based in upstate New York, Funny Cide won the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Preakness S. His bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 ended in the GI Belmont S., when he finished third behind Empire Maker (Unbridled) over the sloppy course. Funny Cide's...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--A decision will be announced Tuesday on whether Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) will run in the GI Haskell S.  July 22 or train up to the GI Travers S. Aug. 26, co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said Friday. Mage was given a break from training by trainer Gustavo Delgado after his third-place finish in the GI Preakness S. May 20. He had his fourth timed work Friday--six furlongs in 1:13.40--at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky. "Gustavo just wants to watch the horse until Tuesday," Restrepo said....

With the Churchill Downs spring meet, which was moved over to Ellis Park, winding down, it appeared that Bob Baffert would soon be able to put the worst of his problems behind him. Baffert was serving a two-year suspension from Churchill Downs that came in the aftermath of Medina Spirit (Protonico) testing positive for a substance banned on race day after crossing the wire first in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. The suspension forced Baffert to sit out the 2022 and 2023 runnings of the Derby, the race that is...

Churchill Downs Incorporated is extending the suspension of Bob Baffert through calendar year 2024 based on what Churchill Downs called "continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks." Churchill released the following statement: "Mr. Baffert continues to peddle a false narrative concerning the failed drug test of Medina Spirit at the 147th Kentucky Derby from which his horse was disqualified by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in accordance with Kentucky law and regulations. Prior to that race, Mr. Baffert signed an agreement...

MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby runner up Two Phil's (Hard Spun) exited his win in Saturday's GIII Ohio Derby at Thistledown with an ankle injury and is unlikely to race again in 2023. The Daily Racing Form was first to report the news. He was being transported to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, where he'll undergo further evaluation and is expected to be operated on by Dr. Larry Bramlage said trainer Larry Rivelli. Rivelli added that Two Phil's showed no sign of injury until Sunday morning, when pressure was detected...

Jareth Loveberry, who has ridden GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Two Phil's (Hard Spun) in all but one of his nine career starts, has had to take off the mount for Saturday's GIII Ohio Derby due to an injury. Gerardo Corrales has picked up the assignment for trainer Larry Rivelli. Loveberry rode Wednesday at Canterbury Park and experienced some pain when his horse, Artemus Citylimits (Temple City), stumbled at the start of the Dark Star Turf Sprint S. "I had a horse stumble out of the gate and jerk my left...

Joss Saville has joined Jim and Dana Bernhard's Pin Oak Stud team as farm trainer. Saville, who will be responsible for the breaking and pre-training of Pin Oak's young horses, has served as an assistant to GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Michael Matz for the last 12 years. "It was a really hard decision to leave Michael. He is a true horseman and I am grateful for all the knowledge he passed along to me," Saville said. "I consider myself very lucky to have spent so long working alongside him, his...

In a tweet sent out Tuesday afternoon, Gulfstream Park announced that Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado has retired. With 7,119 victories, Prado, 56, is the eighth winningest jockey in the sport's history. He has not ridden since the Jan. 6 card at Gulfstream. At deadline for this story, Prado had not returned a phone from the TDN, but told the Blood-Horse that he wanted to spend more time with his family. "It was getting harder and harder and I was wasting the time that I spent with my family,...

The addition of a replica of Mage (Good Magic), the 149th Kentucky Derby champion, is among the features added to the Winner's Circle exhibit at the Kentucky Derby Museum. A local artist, Mike Prather, produced the airbrushed the replica. Also, exhibit provides the Mage team's story and their journey to the Kentucky Derby stage through the self-guided panels in the exhibit. The Museum will also feature unique artifacts: Two of Mage's horseshoes worn during the Kentucky Derby A harness worn by Mage A Mage hat signed by the team The...

It was a banner weekend for Godolphin homebreds during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Cody's Wish (Curlin) added another chapter to racing's feel-good story with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) validated her upset neck victory on the first Friday in May with a heart-stopping victory in the GI Acorn S. The up-and-coming Loved (Medaglia d'Oro)--a 4-year-old half-sister to MGISW and young Darley stallion Maxfield (Street Sense)--made it three straight...

There are a lot of opinions about the Triple Crown. Most of them center on the Preakness and the spacing of the three races. In my opinion, the Preakness is the victim of the Kentucky Derby's success, or as T.D. Thornton said so well in his article June 12: "Underscoring how the Derby itself is devolving into a be-all/end-all, one-shot endeavor at the expense of the Triple Crown race that follows it, for the first time in 75 years, Mage was the only horse out of the Derby to enter...

The TDN sat down with 2-year-old consignor Tom McCrocklin for this first offering in a new series presented in cooperation with the Consignors and Breeders Association (CBA). Through conversations with buyers and sellers, the series looks to contribute to the discussion on radiograph findings and their impact on racetrack success. Tom McCrocklin, who was represented this spring by graduates in both the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks, as well as by a pair of million-dollar juveniles in the sales ring, admitted his approach to vet work varies...