Kentucky Derby News

Derby News September 22, 2017

Europe Road to the Kentucky Derby kicks off with Beresford Stakes in Ireland

A new pathway to the 2018 Kentucky Derby (G1) will wind itself through Europe over the next six months. The horse that accumulates the most points in the seven-race European Road to the Kentucky Derby series will receive an automatic entry into the Churchill...

September 22, 2017

The Last Grade 1 Race for 3-year-old Dirt Males

The last grade 1 race for 3-year-old dirt males, the Pennsylvania Derby, is being staged Saturday, but there are more runners from this year’s Kentucky Derby field that are instead contesting a grade 3 race many miles to the west this weekend.
The...

September 21, 2017

5 Fast Facts: Beresford Stakes

5 Fast Facts about the Beresford Stakes, a European Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race

The Beresford Stakes was founded in the middle years of the 19th century. Run over a mile, the Beresford is being run this year at Naas racecourse, in County Kildare,...

September 18, 2017

Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner, passes away

Beloved racing icon Penny Chenery, who campaigned 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat and 1972 Kentucky Derby champion Riva Ridge, passed away at home in Colorado Saturday. Aged 95, she sustained complications from a stroke.
Although those Meadow Stable...

September 17, 2017

Patrona Margarita gets the Kentucky Oaks party started

Patrona Margarita wasn’t expected to win Saturday’s $200,000 Pocahontas Stakes (G2), at least not according to her 23-1 odds. But the dark bay daughter Special Rate paid no never mind to such trivial things as being the fourth longest shot...

Derby News September 16, 2017

The first step on the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ is…

…the breeding shed.
That’s right. A lot goes into preparing a Kentucky Derby runner before he/she even enters the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, but the absolute first stop is the breeding shed.
Some may think...

Derby News September 16, 2017

The first step on the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ is…

…the breeding shed.
That’s right. A lot goes into preparing a Kentucky Derby runner before he/she even enters the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, but the absolute first stop is the breeding shed.
Some may think...

September 16, 2017

The Tabulator racks up Derby points, Breeders’ Cup berth in Iroquois

Carolyn Wilson’s The Tabulator opened the 2018 Kentucky Derby (G1) points chase with a victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs.
The winner of his first two starts in sprints, the Larry Rivelli juvenile was stretching...

Derby News September 13, 2017

Iroquois opens Road to the Kentucky Derby series

The 2017-18 Road to the Kentucky Derby series gets underway Saturday with the $150,000 Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs. A slate of designated races will determine eligibility for the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 5, 2018 and the 1 1/16-mile...

September 12, 2017

5 Fast Facts: Iroquois Stakes

5 Fast Facts about the Iroquois Stakes, a Kentucky Derby prep race

The race is named not after the Native American people, but after the first U.S.-bred to win the Epsom Derby and St Leger Stakes in England. The equine Iroquois’s efforts in 1881...

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