Kentucky Derby

by Alexa Crament Alexa Crament is a Junior at the University of Kentucky majoring in Equine Science and Management. She recently completed an internship with the TDN's social media and video department where, among many other projects, she took lead on a TDNtv video series highlighting Visit Horse Country. Alexa is also a regular tour guide at Godolphin's Jonabell Farm. Seven years ago, I was planning my first trip to Lexington, Kentucky during my spring break week. I fell in love with the racing industry after Nyquist's Kentucky Derby win...

Featuring $200-million worth of improvements in its new paddock area, Churchill Downs hosted the draw ceremony for next weekend's GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks during its opening night card Saturday. As usual, the proceedings drew some cheers, and jeers, from the crowd. Possibly numbered among the latter, the connections of the 5-2 morning line favorite 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) couldn't have been overly thrilled with drawing post 17 for Saturday's Run for the Roses. Campaigned by his breeder Mike Repole, the reigning juvenile champ comes...

Light Up Racing, an industry collective which seeks to counter negative reporting and perceptions about horse racing, issued the following statement Saturday about the Hulu/FX/New York Times documentary "Broken Horses," which debuted Friday. The statement is printed in its entirety.  "The recent FX documentary 'Broken Horses' has cast a spotlight on the historical issues and implications of illegal doping in horse racing. The presentation attempts to address significant challenges within the industry, particularly focusing on the critical issue of racehorses sustaining life-ending injuries and the urgent need for reforms to...

Edited Press Release Churchill Downs Incorporated established the "Safety from Start to Finish" program in March 2009 to formalize its comprehensive approach to continual improvement of the health and safety protocols and policies for horses and humans who work, train, compete and attend racing events at Churchill Downs Racetrack. Following a comprehensive evaluation of existing safety protocols and a thorough assessment of industry best practices in June 2023, Churchill Downs has implemented several key enhancements to the Safety from Start to Finish Program for 2024, including: -Investment in Surface Management:...

'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), the likely favorite for next Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, completed his final breeze for the first leg of the Triple Crown with a half-mile work Friday in :48.80 (43/68). Working under jockey John Velazquez and in company with fellow 'Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road), the Repole Stables homebred and runaway GI Curlin Florida Derby winner worked through fractions of :12.80, :24.80, :36.80 and :48.80 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.60, six furlongs in 1:12.60 and seven-eighths in 1:26. "I'm very, very...

A portion of any purse money earned in the May 4 GI Kentucky Derby by Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), winner of the GI Blue Grass S. and expected to be one of the favorites for the American Classic, will benefit the Backside Learning Center (BLC)'s initiative "Purses for a Purpose." In addition, should the 'TDN Rising Star' win the Derby, co-owner Brook Smith has promised an additional $100,000 to the BLC. Smith, who recently joined the TDN Writers' Room, is a Louisville resident and long-time supporter of the BLC, which...

A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge on Wednesday denied a motion by Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable that would have conferred "emergency" status on his legal quest to get 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic) into the GI Kentucky Derby despite a ban by Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) against the colt's trainer, Bob Baffert. Technically, the Apr. 24 order by Judge Jeff Taylor didn't decide Zedan's appeal of a lower court's denial of a temporary injunction in full. But from a practical standpoint, it appears that time has all but...

Likely GI Kentucky Derby favorites and 'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness (City of Light) (9-2) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) (6-1) will open as the second and third choices in the Preakness Future Wager when the final pool opens Friday, Apr. 26. The Preakness Future Wager favorite is GI Arkansas Derby winner and 'Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), listed at 3-1 after opening at 19-1 in the first Preakness Future Wager, while Bob Baffert-trained stablemate and GI Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination (Into Mischief) is 12-1. Muth and Imagination will not...

Ribble Farms, Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver and Kenneth and Dave Fishbein's Honor Marie (Honor Code) worked five furlongs in company with his stakes-placed stablemate Agoo (Munnings) in a bullet :59.20 (1/11) over a fast track on a chilly Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. With jockey Ben Curtis aboard for trainer Whit Beckman, the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. winner and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner-up clicked off fractions of :12, :23.80, :35.60, :47.40 and :59.20. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.60 and seven-eighths in 1:27.60. "We can take one breath...

"Mr. Bob," they call him: a nice combination of deference and affection. Both have been amply earned, over the six decades since Robert Hall Jr. established a feed mill that has attained global reach while remaining an unmistakably local, Bluegrass institution. But as befits a man who sleeps in the room where he was born, 94 years ago, the story has roots extending to another era altogether; to a boyhood when Hall--presumably then plain "Master Bob"--saw for himself the difference that good diet could make to livestock. "I was nine...

A new HISA computer model to identify at-risk horses is being used by Churchill Downs officials to complement existing track safety nets, representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) announced during Tuesday's press conference on equine safety protocols in place for this year's GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks. "It's essentially a model that looks at 44 potential risk factors that might cause a horse to be at risk for injury," said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, who added that the...

Frankie Dettori, who hasn't ridden in the GI Kentucky Derby since an off-the-board finish in 2000 aboard Godolphin's UAE Derby winner China Visit (Red Ransom), has picked up a mount in this year's Derby in West Paces Racing LLC, Danny Gargan, and GMP Stables LLC's Society Man (Good Magic). The news was first reported by Daily Racing Form Tuesday. Trained by Danny Gargan, who also has MGSW Dornoch (Good Magic) pointing to the big race, Society Man was last seen finishing second Apr. 6 in the GII Wood Memorial S....