144th Kentucky Derby

It’s May 1st. It’s Tuesday. That means Saturday is Kentucky Derby day. Just to remind everyone, it’s a Grade 1 stakes race for three year olds at a distance of 1 and 1/4 miles on dirt. Grade 1 is the highest level that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The criteria are: 1) purse minimum. $300,000 for Grade 1. The purse for the Derby is $2,000,000.
2) longevity. 2 years under the same conditions. As noted, this will be Derby 144.
3) restrictions. Age and gender. The Derby is for 3 year olds only, but allows colts, geldings and fillies.
The post position draw for the maximum 20 starters. all colts, was this morning. 3-1 favorite Justify drew post position 7. He’s trained by Bob Baffert, who’s saddled four Derby winners, including the last Triple Crown champion, American Pharoah.
2nd favorite Mendelssohn is in gate 14, but is ridden by relative unknown Ryan Moore. 3rd choice is Magnum Moon from 16 in the auxiliary gate. He’s one of four Todd Pletcher trainees, as is 4th choice Audible, who shares the spot with Bolt d’Oro, both at 8-1. Pletcher won his second Derby last year with Always Dreaming.
Post time Saturday is 6:46 p.m., but they usually run a few minutes late. Hope everyone has a chance to watch. The current weather forecast is good, so it should be mostly sunny with a few clouds here and there during the day.
And hey, it only takes two minutes...give or take...from start to finish. There’s nothing quite like the twin spires with people packed underneath and twenty three year olds stampeding down the front stretch in front of them on a beautiful Kentucky spring day. Or for that matter, the entrance onto the track by the field to the strains of “My Old Kentucky Home.” Goose bump city.

 

For those of you who occasionally venture to place a wager on a thoroughbred race, or are thinking of learning more about the sport, the 144th Kentucky Oaks, also a Grade 1 stakes race, goes off today (Friday) at 6:12 p.m. on NBCSN. That's the same cable channel that airs the Premier League in the U.S.
The Oaks is for 3 year old fillies (female thoroughbreds) and is contested at a mile and one eighth, 1/8th shorter than the Derby. For the past 8 years, Churchill Downs has partnered with various breast and ovarian cancer charities to raise funds to find cures and aid women and their families dealing with the diseases. The track declares the day a "pink out," and decorates the facility in pink bunting and many other like colored enhancements. Attendees are encouraging to prominently incorporate pink into their attire to add to the awareness of the fundraising efforts, and for a decade, has sponsored a Survivors Parade on the front stretch of the track before the running of the Kentucky Oaks. It's almost more colorful than Derby Day, and looks fantastic on TV.
This year's race has a field of 14 fillies, which means it's truly more of a race than a stampede for the first 1/4 mile or so. The Oaks has historically tended to be more "chalk" (favoring the favorites) than the Derby, though not always. The latest intelligence, courtesy of Courier-Journal beat writer Chris White, looks like this: " (Today's) Oaks is shaping up like a long shot's dream with two clear favorites in Midnight Bisou and Monomoy Girl. The Bill Spawr-trained Midnight Bisou was a 2-1 favorite on the Churchill Downs' live toteboard at 11 a.m. Friday, and the Brad Cox-trained Monomoy Girl was the second choice at 4-1, coming off the #14 post position in a field of 14."
For what it's worth, I have never heard of either of these trainers until today. Bisou, however, is ridden by Mike Smith, who's won this race twice, including last year aboard Abel Tasman for trainer Bob Baffert, who's won this race 3 times. Baffert has current 9-1 shot Rayya in this one, but the rider, Drayden Van Dyke, doesn't even have a page on Wikipedia. If he wins this race he will. Best I can tell, none of the other trainers have won an Oaks. Baffert's entry won't stay at 9-1 due to that, but there should be some decent value bets for handicappers smarter than me. Most of THEM seem to favor Bisou over Monomoy Girl amongst the two solid favorites. After that, Rayya is mentioned by most of them simply because she's moved to Baffert's barn. My Miss Lilly was also mentioned among the long shots more than the others, along with Wonder Gadot and Eskimo Kisses, who supposedly has the best closing speed.
Enjoy!

 

Chalk. Monomoy Girl won despite a protest from Wonder Gadot's jockey John Velasquez after a bump coming down the stretch. Stewards disallowed it, and allowed the results to stand.

 

Thank you kind sir.
Turned out to be a helluva day at the Downs. The rain that was supposed to stop well before post time not only didn’t, but intensified as the day wore on. The track superintendent and his charges do miraculous things to keep the surface safe and viable to run on, but there’s not much they can do when you get the wettest recorded Derby day in history. NBC has eroded our formerly day long coverage to just over half of what it once was, so I was only there from 8a to 2:30p today. And that was fine with me. It’s a far less pleasant experience if you’re not under cover, as the majority of Derby goers are.
But...
that was a very, very impressive performance by Justify and Mike Smith today. On a day when many unraced two year olds, unbeaten or not, would have fallen victim to the slop, a long shot mudder or a sideways body slam just out of the gate, Justify was great. Reminded me of American Pharoah’s Preakness win in 2015. Thunderstorm during the post parade, track turns into malted milk, doesn’t matter. I knew then he would win the Triple Crown. This horse has that kind of talent. Just needs a little luck, no injuries and no surprise holdover specialists at Pimlico and Belmont, and I think we’ll have another one. If you can win in these conditions, you can win in anything.

 

Allow me a small indulgence as we put this edition of the most exciting two minutes in sports in the rear view mirror. My friends at the local newspaper, the Courier-Journal, have taken their still photo coverage of this event, and the sport itself, to the next level. One of the reasons is the leadership of their veterans, Pat McDonogh and Michael Clevenger, who have taken the knowledge passed on to them by their predecessors and elevated it to an art form. When you get a spare moment, check out this story and the accompanying 69 images. There are more elsewhere on the paper's website, but these capture the race like no others. Given the moist conditions, they are a testament to the hardiness and fortitude of a dedicated group of individuals who take their work seriously. Enjoy.

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...ustify-churchill-downs-twin-spires/584836002/