The biggest races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby are the Championship Series races. These contests award more qualifying points to the Winners, essentially making the races a Win and You’re In qualifier to the Kentucky Derby. The top 20 points earners on the leaderboard at the conclusion of all Kentucky Derby prep races earn a spot in the starting gate for the 2023 Run For The Roses on May … Continue reading KD Championship Series
Fairgrounds will host the $400,000, Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Saturday. It was 2002 when the race was awarded Grade 3 status, and then bumped up to Grade 2 status in 2010. It will be the first 50-point race of the season on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series, for horses hoping to make it into the starting gate on the first Saturday … Continue reading Stars Shine In The Risen Star
Mother Nature is undefeated in ALL her starts and the streak continued last week as single-digit temperatures and high-winds KO’d last Saturday’s Withers Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Park. The rescheduled $250,000, 1 1/8-mile Derby prep is set to go on Saturday (2/11) at the Big A and the skies look clear for takeoff. A field of seven (up from six last week) will break from the starting … Continue reading Who Wins The Withers ?
Since the humble beginnings of the sport in the United States, African Americans have made significant contributions to horse racing. African American jockeys dominated the Winner’s circle in racing’s first three decades. They were the first black superstar athletes in the United States, and Won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derby‘s. In fact, 13 of 15 jockeys at the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875 were African American. … Continue reading African American Riders
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado are really enjoying their Saturdays in South Florida this winter. One week after this team Won the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes with ART COLLECTOR, the trainer/jockey combo chalked up another Gulfstream Saturday success on February 4th. This triumph was the $250,000 Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes. ROCKET CAN, a gray son of INTO MISCHIEF, prevailed by three-quarters of … Continue reading ROCKET CAN Could
Here’s a closer look at the field of eight for this years edition of the Holy Bull Stakes, which takes place Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park. 1. LORD MILES [ML 4-1] Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr. Trainer: Saffie Joseph Jr. He enters the Holy Bull off of a fast-closing 3rd-place finish in the Mucho Macho Stakes at Gulfstream on New Year’s Day. He rolled through the stretch … Continue reading Who Wins The Holy Bull Stakes?
The road to the 2023 Kentucky Derby begins its Florida swing on Saturday with the $250,000 dollar, Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Inaugurated in 1990 as the Preview Stakes, the race was renamed in 1996 to honor the recently-retired 1994 Horse of the Year HOLY BULL, who captured the Florida Derby (G1) for one of his major stakes Wins at Gulfstream. The Holy Bull … Continue reading The Holy Bull Stakes
The New York State road to the 2023 Kentucky Derby moves on this Saturday, with the 143rd edition of the $250,000 Grade 3 Withers Stakes. Named after prominent 19th-century owner David Withers, the race was held for the first time in 1874 at Jerome Park. It has been held at several different tracks, but has been run at Aqueduct Park since 1997. Historically held in the spring, the Withers was … Continue reading The Withers Stakes
Apart from the goings on at Gulfstream Park Saturday there is also a Kentucky Derby points race. The Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park will offer more KD qualifying points Saturday than it has in years past. There is a total of 40 points up for grabs with the top five finishers (if eligible) receiving 20-8-6-4-2 points in descending order. A field of nine was … Continue reading The Southwest Stakes
Horses under the care of trainer Bob Baffert are currently unable to earn qualifying points on the Road To The Kentucky Derby, and it seems there is a new regulation is in place for the 2023 edition. Last year, several promising Baffert-trained sophomores were transferred to other trainers (including Tim Yakteen) in early April, aiming for the final 100-point prep races that would gain entry … Continue reading Baffert Derby Saga
