![]() Leonatus is a name being bandied about lately as he is the only horse to win the Derby after only two starts. Then there is Taiba, who has only started two times. In Saturday’s Derby, of the horses currently projected to start, two (Tiz the Bomb and Barber Road) have eight starts, three have seven, five have six, three have five, four have four, three have two. When Affirmed won in 1978, it was his 14th. ![]() When Secretariat won in 1973, it was his 10th race. The veteran jockey will be aboard Taiba during the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Jockey Mike Smith celebrates aboard Pinehurst after winning the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. “Before too long, Japanese horses will be standing on top of the world,” Katsumi Yoshida, Crown Pride’s trainer, told the Kyodo News. On Wednesday, Crown Pride had the fastest half-mile workout at Churchill Downs, so he seem to like the track. Horses from Japan won five of nine races at the Dubai World Cup and two Breeders’ Cup races. Yet Crown Pride seems to be riding a Japanese racing renaissance. He went off as the third betting choice in the Kentucky Derby and, after a rough trip, was eased, finishing 70 lengths behind future Triple Crown winner Justify. An example was Mendelssohn, who won the UAE Derby by more than 18 lengths in 2018. Generally, one of the accepted rules of the Derby is to throw out the horse whose last race was in the Middle East. There has certainly been some buzz about Crown Pride, a Japanese-bred horse that qualified by winning the UAE Derby in Dubai. When you get to this stage before the Derby, you want them to move forward with every step and he’s done exactly that.” Who’s a longshot to follow?Ĭrown Pride and jockey Damian Lane win the UAE Derby on March 26. “What do I not like about Epicenter?” asked owner Ron Winchell, part of the family that started the doughnut chain. Recent history has shown that deep closers do not usually win the Kentucky Derby, so he will get a lot of attention. He likes to go to the lead but in the Louisiana Derby they rated him just off the lead and he came strong in the stretch, showing his versatility. But the post position is unlikely to move the anticipated morning line, unless the horse draws the 1, but even that is not such a big factor since Churchill Downs built a special 20-horse gate that mitigates the disadvantages of the one hole and eliminates the gap in the middle.Īll things being equal, the favorite likely will be Epicenter, who has won four of his last five and most recently won the Louisiana Derby by 2 ½ lengths. The draw for the race will be Monday, up a day from the usual Tuesday. Guest are reflected in a window as they wait for a race to start at Churchill Downs.
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