Kentucky Derby features special ties to New York

Thoroughbred owner and breeder Bonner Young is hopeful that dual winner Highland Grace can add more prosperity to a highly productive family line in the Grade 3, $350000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational going 1 3/8 miles, Saturday's feature at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet. Trained by Barclay Tagg, Highland Grace started out 0-for-4 through the maiden…

Highland Grace victorious in an allowance July 4 at Belmont Park (NYRA/Coglianese) NYRA Press Office OZONE PARK, N.Y.- Thoroughbred owner and breeder Bonner Young is hopeful that dual winner Highland Grace can add more prosperity to a highly productive family line in Saturday's Grade 3, $350000 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks going 11 furlongs at…

Inside Jack Knowlton's downtown Saratoga Springs office, there's no shortage of pictures from one of the wildest rides of his life, courtesy of a horse named Funny Cide. "I've probably watched the race 100 times, 200 times, I mean it never gets old," said Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, who owned Funny Cide. "At about the 16th…

IF you didn't shed a tear for Cody's Wish last year, where were you? The miracle horse provided a tear jerking success at the Breeders' Cup and he rolls onto Churchill Downs this week. On the surface, a high-class horse winning a Grade 1 is no miracle, but his story will surely be made into a movie down the line. Sixteen-year-old Cody Dorman was…

Barbershop conversation is not necessarily idle chatter. Barber Rasi Harper turned videographer after hearing tales of the track while he snipped away on clients such as former NFL coach turned Thoroughbred owner Bill Parcells, trainer Chad Brown, and jockeys Javier Castellano and Kendrick Carmouche. Harper had grown up in Brooklyn, N.Y., but was…

Thirteen and a half years ago, the diminutive bay gelding named Mine That Bird was hauled over 1000 miles from New Mexico to Churchill Downs by his trainer, Chip Woolley. His 50-1 upset will forever remain a legend in the history of the Kentucky Derby. This year, another trainer from New Mexico could be poised to take his shot at the Run for the…

By Andy Serling FOX Sports Horse Racing Analyst The field for the 154th Belmont Stakes, the final jewel of the Triple Crown, is scheduled to break from the gate at 6:44 p.m. ET on Saturday at beautiful Belmont Park. All eyes will be on Rich Strike. While not the morning-line favorite, the upset winner of the Kentucky Derby that was held out of the…

The 2023 Kentucky Derby trail begins Saturday at the track that will host that event next May. Echo Again (2-1) is the morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $300000 Iroquois Stakes. Post time from Churchill Downs is 4:55 p.m. EDT, with FS2 showing the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds. The Iroquois kicks off the series of points-paying preps toward…

NEW YORK - Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike is the third betting choice on the morning line for the Belmont Stakes, with Triple Crown newcomer We the People installed as the favorite. Rich Strike opened at 7-2 odds and drew the fourth post position in a field of eight horses for the 1 1/2-mile third leg of the Triple Crown. We the People drew the…

NEW YORK (AP) - Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike is the third betting choice on the morning line for the Belmont Stakes, with Triple Crown newcomer We the People installed as the favorite. Rich Strike opened at 7-2 odds and drew the fourth post position in a field of eight horses for the 1 1/2-mile third leg of the Triple Crown. We the People drew…

NEW YORK (AP) - Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike is the third betting choice on the morning line for the Belmont Stakes, with Triple Crown newcomer We the People installed as the favorite. Rich Strike opened at 7-2 odds and drew the fourth post position in a field of eight horses for the 1 1/2-mile third leg of the Triple Crown. We the People drew…

The bracing uncertainties of there being no runaway favorite for this afternoon's $3-million 2022 Kentucky Derby illuminate the robustness of the three-year-old Class of'22, as well as that of equine America, and that gives faithful Derby players many ways to cut the complex pie of their exotics. But there's still a blistering race to be run to…

Barber Road, the horse ridden by Victor native Reylu Gutierrez, finished 6th in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Barber Road had odds of 60-1 to win the race. But a horse with even longer odds, Rich Strike, who went off at 80-1, upset the field to win the Kentucky Derby. --------------- There is a local connection to horse racing's most prominent event…

The excitement is consuming Keith Luke night and day, though at times it doesn't seem real. "I have the experience where I get to sleep, I wake up in the morning, and we still have a horse going to the Kentucky Derby. It's a positive type of anxiety, and it's surprisingly exhausting," said Luke, economic development director for the city of…

By Scott Taylor ( @staylorsports) Presented by: Yes, it's true. There is a favourite in Saturday's Kentucky Derby named Messier and yes, he's named after the legendary hockey star. Messier, the only Canadian-bred colt in the field, will carry the colours of Ontario's Sam-Son Farm into the 148 running of the Run for the Roses. He will also take a…

One Scott County man will be making the trip of a lifetime this Saturday, although he'll only be going to Louisville. Jared Hughes of Georgetown will be taking the iconic walk to the paddock at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby with a horse named Barber Road. Hughes purchased the three-year-old colt as a weanling, not even one year old, on…

According to Churchill Downs' Mike Battaglia's opening odds, thoroughbred contender Cyberknife is a 20-1 shot for Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Even if he doesn't win, his owner deserves a bouquet of roses or at least a glass of champagne. You see, Al Gold had more important things on his mind when he named his Chestnut colt. The prostate cancer he…

The Kentucky Derby is the first leg of horse racing's Triple Crown and it will take place Saturday evening at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The year's derby will be one of the more interesting ones in recent memory since legendary trainer Bob Baffert will not be allowed at the track as he's serving a 90-day suspension. The ban was given to him by…

They trotted out Nicole Kidman. Tom Cruise was in tow. And Ray Bryan was at a racetrack for the first time in his life. The Kentucky Derby likes to provide a celebrity red-carpet experience as part of the overall spectacle. (You may even have heard of some of the celebrities) But this wasn't that. Bryan was a freshman at Skidmore College who had…

It's always more fun to watch the Kentucky Derby when you can root for a hometown hero. That was certainly the case when Sackatoga Stable -owned Tiz the Law, winner of the 2020 Belmont and Travers stakes, took to Churchill Downs' famed oval in 2020. (That was the year the Triple Crown race schedule got all screwed up by COVID and the Derby ran in…

The principal action for Kentucky Derby 148 occurred more than 2000 miles west of Churchill Downs Thursday morning as Santa Anita Derby (GI) winner Taiba worked six furlongs in 1:12.80. "It was very straight forward," trainer Tim Yakteen said. "He worked three-quarters from the five-eighth pole. It was a typical Taiba work and we accomplished what…

Bob Baffert-trained horses may be ineligible to run in this year's Kentucky Derby, but they're dominating the lead-up. Of the 21 Kentucky Derby prep races conducted since September, Baffert's horses have won six of them - two each by Corniche and Newgrange and one by Messier and Blackadder. Newgrange will look to continue the trend Saturday as the…

Rich Strike, the long shot winner of the Kentucky Derby, will make his triumphant return to the track Saturday in New York for the 154th running of the Belmont Stakes. Post time is scheduled for 6:49 p.m. ET and the race will be televised on NBC. While horse racing's Triple Crown is out of the picture, there's plenty of intrigue in Rich Strike's…

Horses come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Some have pronounced blazes or unique patterns. But most of the horses - and winners - in the Kentucky Derby tend to be bay or chestnut. Only eight gray or roan horses have ever won the first leg of the Triple Crown. The 2023 Kentucky Derby will feature four gray or roan horses. According to Horse Racing…