LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Kentucky Derby Week is officially here and most horses running in the $5 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) and $1.5 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) had all their major training sessions complete minus a few gallop days until their respective races.
Monday’s special 7:30 a.m. training session included several top contenders for this year’s Derby and Oaks including Fierceness, Sierra Leone and Tarifa who all had easy jogs or gallops.
Only two horses for the Kentucky Derby are scheduled to have published workouts this week Japan’s Forever Young (JPN) and T O Password (JPN) who are on tap to work Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.
CATALYTIC
Catalytic’s Saturday work. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Tami Bobo, Julie Davies and George Isaacs’ Catalytic walked the shedrow on Monday following a Sunday workout.
“That’s the routine we follow after a breeze,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He’ll be back out tomorrow.”
With jockey Jose Ortiz aboard, Catalytic was timed in :47.80 for the half-mile on Sunday. Ortiz will ride Catalytic in the Derby, starting from the No. 5 post as a 30-1 shot.
CATCHING FREEDOM/ENCINO/JUST A TOUCH
Catching Freedom worked five furlongs in company Saturday in 1:00.80. Catching Freedom. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
Trainer Brad Cox’s Derby trio ofCatching Freedom, Encino and Just a Touch all returned to the track Monday around 6:45 a.m. for easy one-mile jogs following their respective breezes Saturday.
“All three horses exited their works in good shape,” Cox said. “They’ll gallop the rest of the week and be ready for Saturday.”
Jockey Florent Geroux was on hand Monday to watch his mount in the Derby, Just a Touch, train.
“I’m really excited about his chances,” said Geroux, who won the Derby in 2021 via disqualification aboard Mandaloun. “He’s light on experience but he’s a very talented colt. I think he’s ready to run a big race.”
Jockey Flavien Prat will ride Catching Freedom while Axel Concepcion will be in the irons for Encino.
DOMESTIC PRODUCT/SIERRA LEONE
Sierra Leone works outside of Domestic Spending for Chad Brown. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Stablemates Sierra Leone and Domestic Product both returned to the track Monday for the first time since working five furlongs in company on April 17. The Chad Brown-trained Kentucky Derby contenders each jogged the wrong way once around the Churchill Downs oval during the 7:30 a.m. training period.
“Everyone’s good,” Brown said.
While Brown already has most of the sport’s top races on his resume, the four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer will be seeking his first victory in the Kentucky Derby. He has come into the Derby with strong chances before, saddling champion Good Magic to a runner-up finish in 2018 and having Grade I winner Zandon run third in 2022. What Brown hasn’t had prior to this year is the 1-2 punch for the classic he believes he currently possesses.
While Sierra Leone casts a long shadow off the strength of his victories in the Blue Grass (GI) and Risen Star (GII) Stakes, Domestic Product could be right in the mix in his own right if race conditions set up in his favor. Having closed into slow fractions while running second in the Holy Bull Stakes (GIII) and winning the Tampa Bay Derby (GIII), Domestic Product looms a real threat if he gets a halfway decent pace on the front end.
“I’m thinking the same way. The horse has really been giving a great appearance here at Churchill, he’s really glowing and beaming with energy,” Brown said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with both of the Derby colts. Knock on wood they just go into the race this way. (Domestic Product), he’s a hell of a nice horse. He just looks terrific.”
What’s in a pedigree …
Three Kentucky Derby 150 runners are sired by Derby champs. Just Steel and Just a Touch are by Triple Crown winner Justify. Encino’s sire Nyquist won the Derby in 2016.
Dornoch winning his maiden Oct. 14. (Courtney Snow/Past The Wire)
Two of the Kentucky Derby 150 runners were sired by the sire of last year’s Derby champ! Dornoch and Society Man. Now, Dornoch has Curlin (grandsire) 3rd in the Derby and Big Brown (damsire) 2008 Derby champ.
DORNOCH/SOCIETY MAN
It was back to business for trainer Danny Gargan’s duo of Dornoch and Society Man on Monday with each returning to the track after putting in their final work April 27 when they breezed four furlongs.
Society Man was the first to the track on Monday, heading out just after 6 a.m. for a light jog. The chestnut son of Good Magic was especially easy to spot, and he wore what Gargan calls a unicorn light between his ears.
“Churchill has really bright lights but most of the tracks — Palm Meadows, Saratoga — there’s not a bunch of lights. So, we put that on all the horses so we know where they are,” Gargan said.
Dornoch took the track during the 7:30 a.m. training period, coming out for a jog the wrong way while also having a session of gate schooling that Gargan deemed “perfect.”
“Society Man always bounces right back out of his race,” Gargan said. “Dornoch struggles a little bit sometimes, but he’s come out of the Blue Grass better than he’s come out of any race, I think. We didn’t really have to ship this time or go anywhere, so I’m real pleased with him. But Society Man, he never has a bad day. He’s one of those horses where day in and day out, he’s a happy kind of guy. Just always the same, real level.”
ENDLESSLY
Endlessly (outside) aside Blue Eyed George had a normal training day Thursday, galloping 1 ½ miles. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
Trainer Mike McCarthy had his handsome bay Endlessly dressed out and ready to roll shortly after 6 a.m. Monday and he sent him and exercise rider Walter Davila trackside for a mile and one-quarter tour of the Churchill Downs oval.
“He’s happy,” reported the exercise rider after returning from the exercise. “I’m happy, too,” noted McCarthy regarding the homebred son of Oscar Performance that he conditions for the Amerman Racing couple of John and Jerry Amerman.
The conditioner has guided his good-looking bay charge through an interesting platform that has seen him win four stakestwo on grass, two on all-weatherthough he’s yet to race on a dirt surface. He’s trained well on the loam, but Saturday will be his initial chunk of competition on it.
Jockey Umberto Rispoli will be making his second Derby start having finished 14th on Brooklyn Strong in 2021.
Repole Stable’s Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness looked a picture Monday morning moving smoothly through a gallop of a mile and three-eighths during the special 7:30-7:45 training session for Derby and Oaks runners.
The City of Light colt, bred by his owner, once again had the former Brit jockey Danny Wright in the saddle as he took another step forward toward his date with destiny in the mile and a quarter classic scheduled to go off at 6:57 p.m. Saturday.
Should he run to his 5-2 morning line odds, he’d add $3.1 million to his healthy bankroll that already reads $1,703,850. He’d also pick up a spectacular gold trophy to go alongside his championship hardware for being named America’s top 2-year-old of 2023.
His Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher, has named Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez to handle the riding duties on Saturday.
FOREVER YOUNG (JPN)
With jockey Ryusei Sakai aboard, Forever Young worked relaxed fractions and gate schooled Wednesday. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs/Renee Torbit)
Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young (JPN) warmed up in the mile chute for a half-hour before galloping a mile and a half under Yusaku Oka. Following the gallop, Forever Young returned to the chute to cool down before walking back to the Quarantine Barn.
Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, Forever Young is scheduled to work Tuesday morning with fellow Derby entrant T O Password (JPN).
Yahagi is scheduled to arrive in Louisville Tuesday night.
GRAND MO THE FIRST
Click to view on X.
Granpollo Stables’ Grand Mo the First galloped two miles at 6:30 under Amel Macias for trainer Victor Barboza Jr.
The Kentucky-bred son of Uncle Mo comes into Derby 150 off a third-place finish behind Derby favorite Fierceness in the Florida Derby (GI).
Grand Mo the First finished 16 lengths behind Fierceness that day, so the question is how to make up that margin.
“This time it will be different, a different race,” Barboza said. “The pace will be quicker this time. The last time, nobody fought him (Fierceness). He got away with :24 and :49 and nobody fought him. This will be different.”
HONOR MARIE
Honor Marie (outside) worked with jockey Ben Curtis in the saddle alongside his stablemate Anthem King. (Coady Photography)
Ribble Farms, Michael Eisterman, Earl Silver, Kenneth and Dave Fishbein’s Honor Marie galloped 1 ½ miles at 7:30 a.m. Monday under regular riderMaurilio Garcia.
Jockey Ben Curtis will ride in his first Kentucky Derby aboard Honor Marie.
“I came over to North America in November and I never thought I’d be riding in the Kentucky Derby,” said Curtis, a native of Ireland who was riding in Europe. “It’s a fantastic opportunity on a horse who I think could show up brilliantly on Derby Day. His stamina is there, his pedigree is there and everything he’s shown to this point says he will stay for the mile-and-a-quarter trip. There’s question marks on others in the race but he crosses off a lot of those question marks.
“He’s a very laid back, professional horse. A lot of the good ones are. They know how to keep their cool and use the right energy when it matters when the gates open. The way he goes through a race he likes to warm up into it. He puts himself in the right spots. There’s a long stretch here and I think it will suit his running style very well.”
JUST STEEL
Just Steel goes around for the coach. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
BC Stables, LLC and Henry Schmueckle’s Just Steel walked the shedrow one day after breezing four furlongs in his final serious preparation for the Kentucky Derby (GI)
Among the intangibles trainer D. Wayne Lukas believes is a key aspect toward having success in the Derby is having an entrant with the pedigree to handle the first leg of the Triple Crown. As the Hall of Famer prepares to saddle his 50th Kentucky Derby starter with Just Steel, both of his equine protege and his jockey check that box.
Just Steel, a son of Triple Crown winner and newly minted Hall of Fame Justify, will be ridden in the 1 1/4-miles classic by Keith Asmussen, son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The younger Asmussen began his career in saddle in 2020 and is coming off a 2023 season in which he rode 60 winners while earning more than $3.2 million.
This year, the 25-year-old Asmussen – who has a Master’s Degree in accounting – already has ridden 53 winners through Sunday, including his first graded stakes victory when he guided Lukas trainee Lemon Muffin to victory in the Honeybee Stakes (GIII). Not only is Asmussen keeping the mount on Lemon Muffin in the Kentucky Oaks (GI), Lukas is giving him a chance go to one better on Just Steel after the duo most recently finished second in the Arkansas Derby (GI) on March 30.
“He has a really good pedigree to be a horseman,” Lukas said of Keith Asmussen. “Physically, he doesn’t fit. He’s too tall, too skinny but he’s got so much horsemanship that he overcomes it. We used to say in athletics they look good in the lobby, he doesn’t look good in the lobby, he looks better on the horse. He’s very smart. He’s got a lot of confidence and it’s not going to bother him to get out there with those guys.”
If Just Steel is able to pull the upset on Derby Day, Keith Asmussen will beat his father to the punch in achieving a victory in the first leg of the Triple Crown as Steve Asmussen is winless with 25 starters.
“I do make the comment to these jockeys in these big races, that I don’t want them to embarrass me,” Lukas said. “I feel real comfortable that this is really solid young man who is going to carry himself well through it all.”
MYSTIK DAN
Mystik Dan chills. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing and Daniel Hamby III’s Mystik Dan was out for trainer Kenny McPeek for a typical gallop with Martin Reyes on Monday.
“He jogged one (mile) and galloped one,” said McPeek, who was satisfied in drawing the No. 3 post position in the Derby. The 20-1 morning-line shot will have Brian Hernandez Jr. on board for the Derby.
On Saturday, Mystik Dan was timed for the five furlongs in 1:01.20 with Hernandez.
RESILIENCE
Resilience walks the shed row. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
With another morning of ideal weather providing the perfect backdrop, Emily Bushnell and Ric Waldman’s Resilience kept to his routine as well, returning to the track to loosen his legs up with an easy jog under the watch of trainer Bill Mott one day after putting in a half-mile breeze in preparation for the Kentucky Derby (GI).
When Resilience makes his way into the starting gate for the 150th Kentucky Derby, the son of Into Mischief will have a new pilot at the helm in jockey Junior Alvarado as John Velazquez – who rode the colt to victory in the Wood Memorial (GII) – is committed to morning-line favorite Fierceness. While Alvarado hasn’t yet guided the bay colt in a race setting, few riders are more familiar with what it takes to get a Mott trainee to succeed in a big spot.
Alvarado is coming off a career-best year in 2023 in which he notched more than $13.3 million in earnings and 16 graded stakes victories. A major of those graded wins came aboard horses for Mott, including his most notable mount, 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish.
In addition to guiding Cody’s Wish, Alvarado has also been trusted by Mott to handle the duties for such Grade 1 winners as War Like Goddess, the late Art Collector, Olympiad, and reigning juvenile filly champion and Oaks contender, Just F Y I. If momentum contributes anything toward racing luck, Alvarado has that in spades whenever Mott is the one legging him up.
“I’ve been riding for Mott the last 11 years and the last couple years, we’ve been on a great run in big races,” said Alvarado, who also won the $20 million Saudi Cup (GI) this year aboard Todd Fincher trainee Senor Buscador. “Hopefully it can continue this week. I think I am lucky right now. I think I’ve been on a hell for a run for the last three years. I wouldn’t change anything.”
Alvarado did get on Resilience when the colt was a juvenile up in Saratoga and the impression his future mount left on him then is one, he hopes will be fully validated in the 10-furlong classic on May 4.
“I worked him in Saratoga before he ever ran. We always thought he was very nice, we just always thought he would be a late developer,” Alvarado said of Resilience. “He was a little awkward at that time, but the talent always was there. He’s been showing that in every race he runs since, he’s been progressing and running faster numbers. Hopefully this race, he gets a little faster.”
STRONGHOLD
Ghostzapper colt Stronghold all focus on Saturday. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
The Ghostzapper colt Stronghold merely walked the shedrow at Barn 48 Monday morning one day after he had drilled five furlongs in :59.80 in company as his final prep for his date in Saturday’s $5 million Kentucky Derby.
“He’s doing fine today,” reported Sherri Alexander, the wife, exercise rider and No. 1 assistant to Stronghold’s conditioner, Phil D’Amato. “He ate up last night and he’s looking for mints this morning.”
Following Sunday’s exercise with the barn’s stakes horse Motorious, Alexander turned wheelman to rush her husband to the Louisville airport and a flight back to their Los Angeles headquarters at Santa Anita Park. The stable ran two horses at the California track yesterday, winning one and running third with the other.
Rider Antonio Fresu is scheduled to arrive in Louisville today. D’Amato is planning to return Tuesday.
Stronghold, the Santa Anita Derby winner, is slated to start his Kentucky Derby journey from post 18 in the 20-horse lineup.
T O PASSWORD (JPN)
Japan’s contingent T O Password (post 10) Forever Young (post 11) and get out on the track. Click to watch on X.
Tomoya Ozasa’s T O Password (JPN) wamed up in the mile chute for a half-hour and then galloped a mile and a half under jockey Kazushi Kimura. Following the gallop, T O Password returned to the chute to visit the starting gate and cool down before walking back to the Quarantine Barn.
T O Password is scheduled to work with fellow Derby entrant Forever Young (JPN) Tuesday morning.
Trainer Daisuke Takayanagi is scheduled to arrive in Louisville tonight.
TRACK PHANTOM
Track Phantom out on the track Saturday morning. The Quality Road colt did five furlongs in 1:00.80 in his last timed work on Equibase April 21. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Lecomte Stakes (GIII) winner Track Phantom had a scheduled walk day in trainer Steve Asmussen’s Barn 38 following his five-eighths work in 1:00 Sunday morning.
WEST SARATOGA
West Saratoga (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
Harry Veruchi’s West Saratoga galloped a mile under Donte Lowery and then visited the starting gate Monday morning.
“He’s feeling good this morning,” trainer Larry Demerittesaid. “He will probably go to the paddock Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.”
ALSO ELIGIBLES
Welch Racing’s Epic Ride (No. 21) jogged for 10 minutes in the mile chute under Sophie Doyle.
Average Joe Racing Stables and Dan Wells’ Mugatu (No. 22) galloped a mile and half at 6:30 under jockey Joe Talamo for trainer Jeff Engler.
