Twenty eager colts storming out of the starting gate, a full house for the first time in three years, and a Kentucky Derby without a dominant favorite.
Things could get interesting on Saturday at Churchill Downs, where the 2019 and 2021 winners were disqualified.
The biggest question for these three-year-olds is whether they can run 1¼ miles as they battle for position in front of the biggest crowd they have ever seen and heard.
“Things can get a little tricky during the race, having to go through potholes and dirt and some bumps along the way,” trainer Chad Brown said. “You never know what’s going to happen when you open the door.”
Zandon is the 3-1 early favorite and comes out of No. 10, which has produced the second-most winners with nine. The dark chestnut colt is trained by Brown, looking for his first Derby win after six losses.
“It would mean everything,” said Brown, who has owned his own barn for 15 years. “It’s very difficult to get these Derby horses, especially the favourite.”
After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, the Derby returns in all its loud and colorful glory. Attendance is back at full capacity, meaning some 150,000 people packed onto Churchill Downs, dressed to the nines and fortified with mint juleps served in souvenir glasses. Post time is 6:57 pm EDT.
“You want to embrace the philosophy that it’s just another race, but of course it’s definitely not just another race,” said Barbadian-born trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who rides White Abarrio.
In 2019, the winner Maximum Security was disqualified for interference and Country House wore the garland of red roses.
In 2020, an eerie silence enveloped the track as no fans were allowed in due to the pandemic and the race was pushed back to September. Last year, the Derby returned to its usual venue on the first Saturday in May with attendance limited to around 52,000 people.
Steve Asmussen has won more races in North America than any other trainer, but has never won the Derby in 23 attempts. He will saddle Epicenter, the 7-to-2 first-choice runner-up who earned his first career win at Churchill Downs last fall.
“You have no control over how 20 three-year-olds are going to handle this volume of audiences for the first time,” Asmussen said. “None of them have obviously been in a race that has had that many runners.”
Derby 148 is missing the familiar horse racing name: Bob Baffert. The Hall of Fame trainer with a record six wins was suspended by Churchill Downs this year and next after last year’s winner Medina Spirit failed a post-race drug test.
Baffert’s shadow still hangs over Twin Spiers. Two colts previously trained by him will be in the starting gate: Messier, the 8-to-1 early third choice named for hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier, and the 12-to-1 Taiba.
Taiba, the least experienced colt in the field, has the most experienced jockey behind him in 56-year-old Mike Smith. He could break Bill Shoemaker’s record as the oldest winning jockey.
“If I can get a good clean ride for him, then inexperience won’t get in the way as much,” Smith said.
Taiba will attempt to become the first horse to win the Derby in just his third start since Leonatus in 1883, and the first horse to win in his third start after not racing as a two-year-old. Both Messier and Taiba are trained by Tim Yakteen, Baffert’s former assistant.
“We’re going to need a little bit of luck, like every horse in the Derby,” Yakteen said.
Baffert told The Associated Press that he plans to watch the race remotely with family and friends.
United Arab Emirates Derby winner Crown Pride could make history as the first horse from Japan to win the Derby. The dark chestnut colt has won three of the four starts in trainer Koichi Shintani’s career.
“I want to see the same race from start to finish that we saw in the UAE Derby,” Shintani said, “including being the first across the line.”
Two-time Derby winner Todd Pletcher rides three starters: Mo Donegal, Charge It and Pioneer of Medina.
Louisville-born Brad Cox won his first belated Derby when Mandaloun rose to first place following the disqualification of the Medina Spirit in February. Cox has three chances to make it to the winner’s circle in person this year: Cyberknife, Tawny Port and Zozos.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a hot, hot beat,” Cox said.
Two-time Derby winner Doug O’Neill rides a 30-to-1 shot, Happy Jack.
“Knock on wood, we are going to shock the world,” he said.
Saturday’s forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of morning showers and then mostly cloudy skies and a high of 17 C.
Reference-www.theglobeandmail.com