Kentucky Derby Horse Profile: Disco Time

Jan 21, 2025 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

Juddmonte Farms’ homebred Disco Time earned 20 points on the 2025 Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series following his late-running, neck victory in the $250,000 Lecomte S. (G3) at Fair Grounds on January 18. Trained by Brad Cox, the unbeaten three-year-old clocked 1 1/16 miles over the sloppy, sealed surface in 1:47.07 with Florent Geroux in the silks.

“That wasn’t the way we drew it up before the race,” Geroux said. “But he broke OK, and from there I saw a lot of horses going at it, so I just tucked in. I was able to save a lot of going into the first turn, which was important given the tough post we had. From there he relaxed beautifully for me and took the kickback very well. I didn’t feel like I was behind horses who were traveling great and felt like they were going to back up at me. I just took my time and made sure I was going to time it right. When he was ready I just tipped him all the way outside and made a nice, long run down the lane. I’m very pleased with the horse. I feel like I gave some ground to the runner-up (Built) who had a little bit of a better trip than mine, but my horse was able to overcome it. He proved he was the best horse today.”

🕺🌹 Disco Time earns 20 points towards the Kentucky Derby in the G3 Lecomte at @fairgroundsnola!

Back-to-back stakes win for both @bradcoxracing and @flothejock.

🎥 TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/8z3Z43oMMs

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) January 18, 2025

Built, Innovator, Golden Afternoon, and Maximum Promise rounded out the top five and earned qualifying points on a 10-6-4-2 basis, respectively.

Disco Time was unveiled on November 1 at Churchill Downs and powered clear to a 3 3/4-length tally under the wire. In his second lifetime outing, the son of Not This Time defeated allowance foes by 3 1/2 lengths beneath the Twin Spires in a one-mile contest. His lifetime line now reads 3-3-0-0, $291,960.

The winner is the initial black-type winner produced from the Jump Start mare Disco Chick, who was a four-time stakes heroine in her career. He has earned Brisnet Speed figures of 87-92-88 from his trio of career starts to date and clearly passed the two-turn test at Fair Grounds. While I do have reservations about his ability to handle classic distances, the colt hasn’t done much wrong to date and has to be considered a nice prospect going forward.