Tag: Greatest Honour

Greatest Honour hasn't raced since finishing third in the Florida Derby 11 1/2 months ago. He has trained toward running in Saturday's Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. (Image: Dana WImpfheimer)

Challenger Reunites a Trio of Familiar Names on Comeback Trail

You may have missed it on Saturday’s Tampa Bay Downs card, but three familiar names return to the track for the Challenger Stakes. The $100,000 race is on the Tampa Bay Derby undercard. The 1 1/16-mile Challenger welcomes back Greatest Honour for the first time in nearly a year. It […]

The Dec. 4 Claiming Crown card gives horses who once ran with claiming tags their day in the Florida sun. Gulfstream Park announced its 2021-22 Championship Meet stakes schedule this weekend. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

Gulfstream Park Adds New Pegasus Race to Championship Meet

Gulfstream Park added a new Grade 3 race to its 2021-22 Championship Meet stakes schedule, introducing the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf to its announced stakes slate. The Florida track’s primary meet in its year-round schedule opens Dec. 3 and runs through April 3, 2022. It features 76 stakes […]

We won't see Greatest Honour close like he did in the Holy Bull for the next two months. The Tapit colt and one-time, front-row Kentucky Derby prospect suffered an apparent ankle injury and is shelved for the next 60 days. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

Ankle Injury Makes Greatest Honour Latest Derby Trail Casualty

Greatest Honour, one of the front-line Kentucky Derby favorites and a rare Shug McGaughey Derby prospect, departed the Derby trail Wednesday with apparent ankle issues. McGaughey told Horse Racing Nation that Greatest Honour came out of his third-place finish in the Florida Derby “a little banged up.” The Hall of […]

By winning the Florida Derby Saturday, Known Agenda affected the Kentucky Derby Future Wager final pool without being listed individually. He's counted as "All Other 3-Year-Olds" for this pool. (Image: Derbe Glass/Coglianese Photos)

Essential Quality Closes as Your Favorite in KDFW’s Final Pool

The fifth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool closed Sunday afternoon with Essential Quality the 4/1 favorite to win the May 1 Run for the Roses. Unbeaten Essential Quality makes his final Derby tune-up in Saturday’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes during Keeneland’s opening weekend. He opened the weekend […]

After winning the Holy Bull and the Fountain of Youth here, Greatest Honour goes for the Gulfstream Park Kentucky Derby prep hat-trick in Saturday's Florida Derby. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Greatest Honour Chases Another Honor as Florida Derby Favorite

The only thing standing between Greatest Honour and keeping Spectacular Bid company in the history books is one of the best Kentucky Derby preps on the calendar – Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Well, that – and the little matter of getting past 10 other horses in […]

Spielberg, seen here nipping The Great One to win the Los Alamitos Futurity, makes his ninth start at his fifth track in Saturday's Florida Derby. This marks trainer Bob Baffert's first Florida Derby starter in his Hall of Fame career. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Baffert Directs Spielberg to Florida for Rare Gulfstream Park Start

Bob Baffert may be synonymous with Kentucky Derby prep races, but the Hall of Fame trainer isn’t synonymous with Gulfstream Park or one of the premier prep races on the calendar, the Florida Derby. Until now. Baffert will make his Florida Derby debut on Saturday, sending the ubiquitous Spielberg eastward […]

Essential Quality follows up his Southwest Stakes victory here with next week's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. He opens as the 3/1 favorite in the final Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool Friday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Essential Quality Opens as KDFW Final Pool Favorite

Essential Quality opened Pool 4 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager as the favorite. Now, the undefeated Tapit colt opens the fifth and final KDFW pool as the 3/1 favorite. Pool 5 of Churchill Downs’ plunge into the Derby futures market opens Friday at 9 am PT and closes Sunday […]

The betting bandwagon piled on Life Is Good after he and Mike Smith rolled to an eight-length victory in Saturday's San Felipe Stakes. He is as low as 2/1 on one Kentucky Derby futures board. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Kentucky Derby Futures: When is it Too Late to Jump In?

Here is your Kentucky Derby futures reminder that the typical Derby favorite opens around 5/2 or 3/1 when Mike Battaglia issues the Churchill Downs morning line come Derby Week. We issue this reminder because right now – nearly eight weeks before the May 1 Derby – Life Is Good sits […]

Yes, Essential Quality is No. 1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Pool 4. The Tapit colt opens at 7/2 when the KDFW's Pool 4 begins Friday. (Image: Coady Photography)

No Surprise: Essential Quality Opens as 7/2 Favorite in KDFW Pool 4

Essential Quality turned his Southwest Stakes victory on Saturday into 7/2 favored status for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) Pool 4. The KDFW’s Pool 4 runs concurrently with the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager’s sole pool. Clariere opens as the 5/1 favorite for that pool. The KDFW opens Friday at […]

After Jose Ortiz pointed the way to a stretch victory in the Fountain of Youth, Greatest Honour reached his lowest Kentucky Derby odds mark to date. He's 7/1 at Circa Sports, 5/1 at William Hill Nevada. (Image: Lauren King/Gulfstream Park)

Derby Futures: Just When You Thought the Favorites Can’t Go Lower

As the calendar turns to March – a mere two months out from the Kentucky Derby – Circa Sports and William Hill Nevada pared 53 horses from their Derby futures boards. There are 150 horses remaining. The value on many of the favorites? The books sliced that away long ago. […]

After their resounding Southwest Stakes victory, Essential Quality and Luis Saez point to either the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland or the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn. (Image: Coady Photography)

What’s Next on the Derby Trail for Essential Quality, Greatest Honour?

Essential Quality and Greatest Honour came out of their weekend Kentucky Derby prep victories none the worse for their victorious efforts. And, their respective trainers have already plotted their next stops on the Derby trail. Essential Quality, who splashed through the Oaklawn Park slop for a 4 ¼-length victory over […]

One of the Kentucky Derby futures favorites, Greatest Honour is the 9/5 morning-line favorite to win Saturday's Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photography)

Drinking From This Fountain of Youth Often Portends Derby Dreams

Once you get past the obvious, that Greatest Honour is clearly the favorite to add the Fountain of Youth to his Gulfstream Park Kentucky Derby prep resume, this race opens up a wealth of other storylines. Can Fire At Will handle dirt as well as he handled turf? Is Prime […]

Fire At Will proved he is great on grass with this Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf win. Can he give favorite Greatest Honour a dirt duel in Saturday's Fountain of Youth? (Image: Coady Photography)

Weekend Stakes: Third Time Should be Oaklawn Park’s Charm

This weekend’s stakes card gives us another shot at seeing the 2021 debuts of Essential Quality, Jackie’s Warrior, and Monomoy Girl. After two weather postponements over the past two weekends, Oaklawn Park finally gets a thumbs-up from Mother Nature. That means the Arkansas track finally gets to turn loose its […]

Candy Man Rocket parlayed his Sam F. Davis Stakes victory into a spot on Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Future Wager's Pool 3. (Image: SV Photography)

New Entries, Same Favorites in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3

Nine new offerings entered the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3 picture, but two familiar names continue holding court as the KDFW favorites. Essential Quality and Life Is Good opened as individual 8/1 morning-line favorites in the third of five KDFW pools. As expected, however, the overall favorite is “All […]

Between them, Todd Pletcher (left) and Bob Baffert own eight Kentucky Derby victories. Pletcher (45) and Baffert (23) have the most Triple Crown early nominated horses for 2021. (Image: Doug Engle/AP File)

Essential Quality Leads 326-Strong Triple Crown Nomination Parade

Getting your horse a Triple Crown nomination used to be so simple that connections to this year’s 3-year-old hopefuls nominated 326 horses to compete in the three American Classic races this spring. Those 326 nominations represent a slight, 6.1% dip from last year’s 347 early nominees. Those connections paid $600 […]

Tarantino, seen here in an October workout, finished a solid second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull. That earned him a prominent odds cut on this week's Kentucky Derby futures boards. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Derby Futures: Tarantino Shows Even Reservoir Dogs Have Their Day

It wasn’t a case of pulp fiction that Tarantino was sitting at 225/1 when he debuted on the Circa Sports and William Hill Nevada Kentucky Derby futures boards last week. Even the Jackie Browns and Inglorious Basterds of the world stared juicy odds in the face before Tarantino entered the […]

Greatest Honour (left) captured Saturday's Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park by 5 3/4 lengths. His Kentucky Derby futures odds plummeted as a result. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Greatest Honour Piggy-Backs Gulfstream to Holy Bull Record Handle

As Greatest Honour joined the front row of Kentucky Derby contenders, he helped carry Gulfstream Park to a record Holy Bull handle day on Saturday. The south Florida track rolled up a total handle of $21.87 million. That surpassed last year’s total handle by 20% and blew past 2017’s previous […]

Greatest Honour already owns a 1 1/16-mile victory from December. He is the 5/2 favorite to win a deep Holy Bull Saturday at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Lauren King/Gulfstream Park)

Forget the Name: The Holy Bull Is No Bull When Talking Derby Preps

The Holy Bull is the race that vaulted Tiz the Law onto the front row of Kentucky Derby contenders. Never mind the fact he didn’t win the rescheduled Derby. It vaulted him to the Belmont Stakes title. Tiz the Law didn’t come out of the Holy Bull to a garland […]

Lecomte Stakes winner Midnight Bourbon opens at 30/1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography)

The Field is Your Favorite in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2

While Life Is Good yielded his favorite status in at least one Las Vegas future book, he holds down 6/1 individual favorite status in Pool 2 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool. At the same time, the Derby field of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is the overall 9/5 […]