SAN DIEGO — In the late-1990s, the Del Mar media relations crew would offer writers gifts that included futures tickets for the track's Futurity winner at the following year's Kentucky Derby.

So Dan Smith, whom the press box is now named after, and Mac McBride drew out $500 from track coffers, drove to Las Vegas and snapped up $10 win tickets...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Among the plethora of factors to consider when making a Kentucky Derby bet are the bloodlines of the horses.

Handicappers will consider a horse’s sire to evaluate how the horse might run on different surfaces and what race length suits it best among other factors. To help you make your 2024 Kentucky Derby pick, here is a ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The $2.3 million thoroughbred colt Sierra Leone can check a couple of important Kentucky Derby boxes on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Box 1 belongs to the Blue Grass Stakes. No winner of Keeneland Race Course’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby prep race has continued on to win the roses since trainer Nick Zito’s Strike the Gold ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Derby field is official and we’re just days away from dreams being fulfilled for one horse’s owners.

Just getting a contender into the 20-horse starting gate for Saturday’s race is a tall order, much less winning. For most, making it to Louisville for the race is the culmination of years of dreams and ...Read more

The 2024 Kentucky Derby is Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., and the Herald-Leader has asked horse racing experts around the country for their top handicapping picks.

Florida Derby winner Fierceness is the favorite, with Blue Grass Stakes winner Sierra Leone next on the morning line, and Catching Freedom, Forever Young and Just a ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Last year's Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs saw 143 horses enter the starting gate. Most will remember Mage, who crossed the finish line first in the world's most famous race. But forgotten by all who didn't known them were Chloe's Dream and Freezing Point, who never made it to the finish line, who never made it back to...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — With Saturday’s historic 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby fast approaching, the focus is on the top of the pre-race odds board.

Fierceness — owned by Mike Repole, trained by Todd Pletcher and to be ridden by John Velazquez — is the favorite to win this year’s Run for the Roses.

Despite initially being drawn into ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Exactly one year ago, Churchill Downs was a race track in crisis at the worst possible time.

Kentucky Derby week was being overshadowed by an early spate of equine deaths at the Louisville facility. Before the Spring Meet had concluded, the fatalities had risen to 12 and racing had been shifted to the Churchill Downs Inc.-...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It’s only Tuesday, but we already have a scratch for Saturday’s 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby.

Encino — trained by Brad Cox and drawn into post position 9 — won’t run in Derby 150.

With Encino scratching out of the race, Epic Ride — trained by John Ennis — will move into the 20-horse field as a result of ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Mike Repole has a message for people about Mike Repole: Don’t feel sorry for Mike Repole.

“I mean I’ve got a pretty awesome life,” the 55-year-old New York native said last week.

You could say that. According to Forbes magazine, Repole is worth $1.6 billion. He helped start Glaceau, the company behind Vitaminwater ...Read more

Regardless whether you think this is Kentucky Derby 150, Kentucky Derby 150* or Kentucky Derby 149½, most of the animus around this year's historic race will be forgotten, if only briefly, when the gates open at Churchill Downs on Saturday evening.

Somewhere around 20 of the best 3-year-old horses in the world will be hoping to win the most ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Keeneland’s 16-day Spring Meet came to a close Friday.

Held from April 5-26, this year’s Spring Meet included a historic 100th edition of the meet’s signature race, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, as well as 19 stakes races in total that offered a combined, season-record purse of $8.6 million.

The meet also took place ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fierceness, the Todd Pletcher trainee who won the Florida Derby by more than 13 lengths last month, was installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s historic 150th edition of the $5 million Kentucky Derby.

A winner in three of his five career starts, Fierceness was assigned post position 17 for the Derby. That�...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — This year’s historic 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville will, once again, be absent of the biggest name in modern horse racing.

Bob Baffert — the 71-year-old trainer who is tied for the most Derby wins by a trainer (six) in history — is once again barred from saddling a horse in the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The attempt to allow Bob Baffert to run a horse in this year's Kentucky Derby was denied in a ruling by Jefferson County, Ky. Judge Mitch Perry on Thursday, possibly ending a last-ditch effort by owner Amr Zedan to get Arkansas Derby winner Muth into the 150th running of the most famous horse race in the country, if not the world...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — For many racing fans, being invited to the Kentucky Derby would be a dream come true.

But for one fan, it turned into a nightmare that ended with surgery and a case before the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The court heard arguments on April 11 in the liability case that asks, who is responsible when a horse hurts someone on the ...Read more

CHICAGO — Illinois enacted a sweeping law in 2019 to allow casinos at horse racing tracks, known as racinos. Nearly five years later, Hawthorne Race Course, a main beneficiary of the legislation, still hasn’t opened a racino. In the meantime, the industry is dying for lack of money.

Part of that legislation gave Hawthorne officials an ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Ever since prominent thoroughbred owners opted to stick with Bob Baffert instead of transferring their contenders to trainers eligible for the Kentucky Derby, the assumption was the first Saturday in May would not include this year’s top 3-year-old.

Turns out, that’s a maybe, maybe not.

That’s not because Amr Zedan, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Is it possible that Bob Baffert will have at least one horse in this year's Kentucky Derby? Maybe, it will all rest with a judge in Jefferson County, Ky., Circuit Court.

On Wednesday, Amr Zedan, one of Baffert's biggest clients, filed suit in Louisville seeking a temporary injunction that would allow Zedan horses, and others ...Read more