Kentucky Derby Alumni Update: Epic Ride

Feb 20, 2025 Sara Dacus/TwinSpires.com

Epic Ride, a 2024 Kentucky Derby alumnus, took trainer John Ennis to his first Derby, and the ride is not over yet. In January, the bay colt won his 4-year-old debut, and Sunday he makes his second start of 2025 in an allowance race at Turfway Park. From there, he may be pointed to a stakes race on Keeneland’s opening weekend.

Epic Ride drew in to the Kentucky Derby the Tuesday before the race. He earned his spot with a third-place finish in the Blue Grass S. behind Sierra Leone and Just A Touch. Prior to that, he was second in the John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway Park. Epic Ride—a son of Blame, the 2010 Champion Older Horse—finished fourteenth in the Kentucky Derby.

#5 Epic Ride puts on a show in the Leonatus S. at Turfway Park under @abeschizza for trainer @johnennis35! 🏆

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/CXepuY718O

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) February 3, 2024

“The Derby was a fantastic dream,” Ennis said. “I still feel privileged to have done it and privileged to have a horse of Epic Ride’s caliber.”

Ennis grew up in Ireland, where he went to the races at Phoenix Park in Dublin with his father. At 15, he entered Ireland’s Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE). After a disappointing stint as an apprentice jockey, he spent some time in both England and Dubai and then moved to the United States. He became an exercise rider working for various trainers including Charlie LoPresti. LoPresti had Ennis work Wise Dan, who won a record seven Keeneland stakes.

Realizing he couldn’t be a rider forever, Ennis bought a yearling that he named Weiland. In his second start, Weiland won the Kentucky Juvenile S. at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend. Ennis sold the colt after his third start and bought more yearlings. He developed a reputation for purchasing inexpensive horses at auction and selling the two-year-olds who run well.

He doesn’t think his training career has changed much since the Derby.

“I might be getting a little more talent coming through the barn now,” he said. “It definitely hasn’t hindered me.”

Coming in Hot is a horse that could potentially follow stablemate Epic Ride’s hoofprints: he is entered in the John Battaglia S. on Saturday following two victories at Turfway.

“He’s a pretty fast horse, so we’re going to give it a shot,” Ennis said. “We’ll see if he can get the distance. If he can’t, we’ll come back for a sprint on Jeff Ruby S. day. But he does love the track.”

Ennis, 43, is looking for his first graded stakes win, and the future is bright. His stable topped over $2.2 million in earnings last year, a career high.

“I have two-year-olds in the barn showing promise,” he said. “Hopefully we find another Epic Ride.”