Tag: 148th Kentucky Derby

Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal suffered bone bruising coming out of the Belmont and will miss most of 2022. (Image: AJ Photo/NYRA.com)

Belmont Stakes Winner Mo Donegal Sidelined With Bone Bruising

You can scratch one Triple Crown race winner from future 2022 races, after Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal suffered bone bruising coming out of that victory that will cost him a large chunk of the rest of 2022. Mo Donegal came out of his three-length Belmont Stakes victory with the […]

Barber Road, seen here working out before the Kentucky Derby, gets Eclipse Award-winning jockey Joel Rosario for Saturday's 154th Belmont Stakes. (Image: Coady Photography)

Champion Joel Rosario Takes Barber Road’s Reins for the Belmont Stakes

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Joel Rosario will pilot Barber Road in next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, news his agent Ron Anderson confirmed over the weekend Anderson told the Daily Racing Form that Rosario, a two-time Belmont Stakes winner, will segue from Epicenter to Barber Road for the Belmont Stakes. Epicenter, who finished […]

Tiz the Bomb likely saw his last synthetic race in this April Jeff Ruby Steaks victory at Turfway Park. He will move back to his preferred turf surface for the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational next month. (Image: Coady Photography/Turfway Park)

Tiz the Bomb Ready to Blow Up Again on His Preferred Turf Surface

Tiz the Bomb’s long-expected move to turf was formally announced Thursday when trainer Kenny McPeek said the versatile colt will begin his grass career with the Grade 1 $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational. That July 9, 1 1/4-mile race at Belmont Park opens the New York Racing Association’s Turf Triple […]

Rich Strike enjoys a bath from groom Jerry Dixon Jr. after arriving at Belmont Park Tuesday morning. The Kentucky Derby champion will go through paddock schooling, then informally work out in the afternoon. (Image: Adam Coglianese)

Derby Winner Rich Strike Arrives in New York for Belmont Stakes

Rich Strike arrived at Belmont Park today, 10 days before the 154th Belmont Stakes. The surprise Kentucky Derby winner took a trot around the dirt training track before heading to the barn for a long nap. The Derby winner, along with exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes and outrider Juan Galvez and […]

Classic Causeway won three of his first five races, including this Sam F. Davis score. But after finishing 11th in his last two -- including the Kentucky Derby -- his owners moved him to Kenny McPeek's barn. (Image: Margaux Farm)

Surprise! Classic Causeway Moves From Lynch to McPeek’s Barn

Without even trying, trainer Kenny McPeek inherited Classic Causeway, getting the Kentucky Derby runner and two-time stakes winner from Brian Lynch’s barn. The Daily Racing Form reported that Kentucky West Racing and the Clarke M. Cooper Family Living Trust, which bred and owns Classic Causeway, moved him to McPeek’s barn. […]

Kentucky Derby champion Rich Strike had his first workout since winning the May 7 Run for the Roses the same day as the Preakness Stakes his connections passed. He will have one more Churchill Downs workout before going to New York for the Belmont Stakes. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Derby Winner Rich Strike Returns to the Track — For a Workout

As he watched his biggest meal ticket work out Saturday, Rich Strike trainer Eric Reed cast a figurative eye East toward Pimlico Race Course. Then, he answered the question of many fans wondering why he wasn’t there, running the second jewel of the Triple Crown — the Preakness Stakes. “Skipping […]

Gutsy Happy Jack will try giving trainer Doug O'Neill his second Preakness Stakes title. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Like His Sire, Happy Jack Searching for Preakness Glory

After explaining all the concrete reasons he’s running Happy Jack in the 147th Preakness Stakes, Doug O’Neill threw this little aside out as the cherry on top. “Oh, by the way, his sire, Oxbow, won this race and that is kind of a cool thing,” O’Neill told Santa Anita Park’s […]

Trainer Tim Yakteen learned plenty in defeat about the Kentucky Derby horses he inherited from Bob Baffert: Messier and Taiba. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Kentucky Derby Taught Tim Yakteen Plenty About Messier, Taiba

With both Messier and Taiba back at his Santa Anita Park barn, trainer Tim Yakteen took a look back at last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby shocker by 80/1 Rich Strike and came up with one inescapable conclusion many people overlooked. “Horses that show a fondness for Churchill Downs have a tendency […]

Lindsay Schanzer took the reins as senior producer of NBC Sports' Kentucky Derby coverage this year. She became the first woman to produce a Kentucky Derby. (Image: NBC Sports)

NBC Strikes Viral Gold with Replay of Rich Strike’s Kentucky Derby Win

If you watched NBC Sports’ overhead shot of Rich Strike’s remarkable ride to the 148th Kentucky Derby title, you had plenty of amazed company. The replay of that performance, with Larry Collmus’ call, has been viewed more than 38 million times across various social media platforms. When NBC released its […]

Fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher Simplification became the first Preakness Stakes contender arriving at Pimlico Race Course Tuesday. (Image: Jerry Dzierwinski/Maryland Jockey Club)

Simplification First to Arrive for Preakness, Gets Johnny V in the Irons

After finishing fourth in Saturday’s 148th Kentucky Derby, Simplification was the first horse to arrive at Pimlico Race Course for the 147th Preakness Stakes. The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner and third-place finisher in the Grade 1 Florida Derby arrived at Pimlico after an 11-hour van ride from Churchill […]

Epicenter did everything right except win Steve Asmussen his first Kentucky Derby. The 4.10/1 favorite adn Derby runner up is questionable for the Preakness Stakes. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Derby Aftermath: Stunned Asmussen, Preakness Probables

Still trying to process how his Kentucky Derby futility streak hit 24 races, trainer Steve Asmussen was non-committal on whether Derby runner up Epicenter would run the May 21 Preakness Stakes. The two-time Preakness winner was very committal on his level of disbelief at what transpired 50 yards from his […]

Newly minted Kentucky Derby champion Rich Strike and his barn connections are headed next to Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes in 13 days. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Rich Strike trainer Eric Reed Hasn’t Woken Up From Derby Dream

Everything kept going back through Eric Reed’s mind like a never-ending dream, which the trainer of Rich Strike still wasn’t sure about. “I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Reed, still in shock over Rich Strike’s 80/1 shocking victory in the 148th Kentucky Derby. “At 4 this morning, I was wondering […]

Rich Strike (right) passes favorite Epicenter with 50 yards to go to win the 148th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs. At 80.80/1, Rich Strike pulled off the second-biggest upset in Derby history, trailing only Donegal's 91/1 shocker in 1913. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Rich Strike Bowls Over Rivals in Stunning 80/1 Kentucky Derby Upset

Rich Strike’s trainer, Eric Reed, nearly lost his entire stable in a barn fire. He got Rich Strike – a $30,000 claimer with one career win in seven starts — into the 148th Kentucky Derby with five minutes to spare Friday. When he left Post 21 at Churchill Downs, Rich […]

Taiba is attempting to be only the third horse to win the Kentucky Derby without running as a 2-year-old. Columnist and morning line author Jon White likes his chances. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Racing Veteran White Sees Plenty of Gray in this Kentucky Derby

Jon White wants you to know this Kentucky Derby prognostication stuff can get rather tricky. He once picked Point Given to win the 2001 Derby because he simply was the best horse in the field. Point Given picked the first Saturday in May that year to run the worst race […]

(Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Breaking Down the 2022 Kentucky Derby: Chaos Theory Reigns

Welcome to Kentucky Derby 148, a.k.a. The Chaos Derby. And we’re not talking about the usual infield escapades that happen as the Derby returns to it’s pre-pandemic crowds north of 150,000. Unpredictability? Depth? A Derby where surprises almost wouldn’t be surprising? This edition of America’s most popular race has it […]

Morning-line Kentucky Derby favorite Zandon meets all the key speed barometers for a Derby champion. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photograpy

How Does Your Kentucky Derby Horse Measure Up Speed-Wise?

Even for the free-for-all standards of a modern Kentucky Derby, this year’s 148th edition features one of the most wide-open fields in recent memory. So in a race without a clear-cut favorite, where do you draw the line between horses who can contend and those who merely pretend? Where else? […]

Mike Smith and Taiba will attempt to parlay this Santa Anita Derby win into a Kentucky Derby triumph as only the second Derby winner since 1882 to win without racing as a 2-year-old. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Taiba Trying to Take a Shortcut to Kentucky Derby History

The path Taiba is attempting to follow started four years ago when a lightly raced colt with only three starts under his saddle went into the Kentucky Derby as the 5/2 favorite. He “Justified” those odds by winning the Derby en route to the Triple Crown. Jockey Mike Smith remembered […]