Trackside at Churchill Downs

Check out the great shots of the 2012 Kentucky Derby contenders warming up and working out at Churchill Downs, captured by John Engelhardt!

The 138th Derby: Pretenders, Maybes and Contenders

Handicapping the Kentucky Derby isn’t an easy task, especially this year when the 138th renewal is fairly wide open with quite a few contenders. You must have a battle plan. I start by eliminating runners, based on credentials and recent form, plus some variables each year. The Pretenders include runners that have not won a […]

2012 Kentucky Derby Spotlight: Creative Cause

Giant’s Causeway–Dream Of Summer Trainer: Mike Harrington Jockey: Joel Rosario Owner: Heinz Steinmann Record: 8 – 4 – 2 – 2 Earnings: $869,000 Last Race: Santa Anita Derby, 2nd Creative Cause narrowly lost the Santa Anita Derby to I’ll Have Another, and this west coast invader is out to prove […]

2012 Kentucky Derby Spotlight: Went the Day Well

Proud Citizen–Tiz Maie’s Day Jockey: John Velazquez Owner: Team Valor Record: 5 – 2 – 2 – 0 Earnings: $315,345 Last Race: Spiral Stakes, 1st The owner-trainer-jockey team that brought you Animal Kingdom last year is back again with the talented bay, Went the Day Well. This is a […]

2012 Kentucky Derby Spotlight: Daddy Long Legs

Scat Daddy–Dreamy Maiden Trainer: Aidan O’Brien Jockey: Colm O’Donoghue Owner: Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier & Michael Tabor Record: 5 – 3 – 0 – 0 Earnings: $1,308,752 Last Race: UAE Derby, 1st Churchill Downs was not kind to Daddy Long Legs last November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where he was […]

2012 Kentucky Derby Spotlight: I’ll Have Another

Flower Alley–Arch’s Gal Edith Trainer: Doug O’Neill Jockey: Mario Gutierrez Owner: J. Paul Reddam Record: 5 – 3 – 1 – 0 Earnings: $634,000 Last Race: Santa Anita Derby, 1st I’ll Have Another played the role of spoiler in the Santa Anita Derby this year, prevailing by a nose over Creative […]

2012 Kentucky Derby Spotlight: Hansen

Tapit–Stormy Sunday Trainer: Mike Maker Jockey: Ramon Dominguez Owner: Dr. Kendall Hansen & Sky Chai Racing Record: 6 – 4 – 2 – 0 Earnings: $1,623,305 Last Race: Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, 2nd Hansen is by far the richest horse in the field; he’s stacked up over $1.6 million in earnings, largely […]

A Look at Kentucky Derby Jinxes Past and Present

There have been many jinxes connected with the Kentucky Derby over the decades. And some memorable curses have been snapped during the 21st Century. One of the most discussed whammies ended in 2007 when Street Sense became the first 2-year-old champion to capture the Derby since Spectacular Bid in ’79. The son of Street Cry […]

Greg Melikov’s Top 10 2012 Kentucky Derby Contenders – Final Edition

Here’s my updated ranking of the Top 10 Kentucky Derby contenders from bottom to top Dave Letterman’s style: Went the Day Well: The son of Proud Citizen will try to duplicate what his connections did last year with Animal Kingdom – duplicate victory in the Spiral in the Kentucky Derby, That’s a tall order since […]

Greg Melikov’s Top 10 2012 Kentucky Derby Contenders – Fifth Edition

Here’s my updated ranking of the Top 10 Kentucky Derby contenders from bottom to top Dave Letterman’s style: Went The Day Well: The same connections won the 2012 and ’11 Spiral en route to Louisville. Animal Kingdom captured last year’s Kentucky Derby. This son of Proud Citizen didn’t run particular impressive closing fractions in this […]

Winning Ponies

Posts Tagged ‘Kentucky Derby contenders’