BALTIMORE (AP) — D. Wayne Lukas sat atop his pony just after 6 a.m. and stared at Secret Oath while she got a bath following her first trip to the track at Pimlico Race Course.
“The whole time she was out there she never put her ears down — they were always up,” he said.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Graham Motion always wondered what it would be like to show up at the Preakness with the Kentucky Derby winner, and when that happened in 2011 with Animal Kingdom it was all he was hoping for and then some.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter was set Monday as the 6-5 morning line favorite for the Preakness Stakes, which will be run without Rich Strike.
The surprise Derby winner at 80-1 is not in the field of nine for Saturday's $1.65 million race.
Rich Strike will not run in the Preakness after his major upset to win the Kentucky Derby, keeping horse racing from having a Triple Crown winner for a fourth consecutive year.
Owner Rich Dawson made the stunning announcement Thursday, 10 days before the race in Maryland.
The jockey of Kentucky Derby upset winner Rich Strike is serving a four-day suspension handed down by Ohio racing stewards that his agent says won't prevent him from riding the horse in next week's Preakness.
NEW YORK (AP) — Perhaps trying to make sure it really happened, more people watched replays of 80-1 underdog Rich Strike winning the Kentucky Derby than watched it live.
NBC said some 36 million people watched the exciting finish of horseracing's premier event on NBC Sports' social media accounts, including 11.6 million on TikTok, the most ever achieved for a network sports presentation.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Anyone anticipating a return to normalcy in the Kentucky Derby got a dose of crazy on Saturday when an 80-1 shot came charging up the rail to win at Churchill Downs.
As favorite Epicenter and Zandon engaged in a duel at the front, Rich Strike stole the show with the second-biggest upset in the Derby’s 148-year history.
This doesn’t happen. Horses at odds of nearly 81-1 don’t win the Kentucky Derby. Jockeys who have never won any big stakes race of any kind don’t win the Kentucky Derby. Owners with fewer than 10 career wins don’t win the Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Rich Strike’s stunning Kentucky Derby upset has the sports world buzzing and led to a sleepless night of celebration that Eric Reed was still recovering from Sunday morning.
The veteran trainer and everybody around him partied long after the 80-1 long shot pulled off a monumental feat on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jockey Sonny Leon and trainer Eric Reed hit the ground running in every way imaginable for the Kentucky Derby.
Rich Strike did both one better after his last-minute Derby entry, blowing past 80-1 odds and then Epicenter and Zandon in the stretch Saturday for one of the biggest upsets in Derby history.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Cowboy hat firmly in place, D. Wayne Lukas hustled from the winner's circle to meet with the media. Along the way, he steadied himself with a cane, one of the Hall of Fame trainer's few concessions to age.
Ah, the traditions of Kentucky Derby day. Mint juleps. Ornate hats. The garland of roses that will be draped across the winner. Those have all been part of the show at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May for decades.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Secret Oath had the best finish from the worst possible starting spot and reminded trainer D. Wayne Lukas what it's like to win the Kentucky Oaks after a long drought.
The filly charged from a five-wide pack to grab the lead from Yuugiri and held off favorite Nest by two lengths Friday in the 148th Oaks at Churchill Downs, giving the 86-year-old Lukas his fifth Oaks win and first since 1990.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will experience a different type of horsepower before NBC's coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series season revs up next month.
The retired NASCAR star will be at the Kentucky Derby for the second time on Saturday before contributing to the network's Indianapolis 500 coverage on May 29.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Twenty eager colts breaking from the starting gate, a full house for the first time in three years, and a Kentucky Derby lacking a dominant favorite.
Things could get interesting Saturday at Churchill Downs, where the winners in 2019 and 2021 were disqualified.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With interest among the general public at its highest with the 148th Kentucky Derby coming up Saturday, horse racing is once again under intense scrutiny.
More than two months after completing one of the busiest schedules in recent memory for a sports television host, Mike Tirico is recharged and ready to go again.
Tirico will host his fifth Kentucky Derby on Saturday, which begins a stretch that includes the Triple Crown, Indianapolis 500, the U.S.
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Tim Yakteen has been to the Kentucky Derby with good horses before. Now the trainer is at Churchill Downs in charge for the first time with two top contenders that used to be trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.
Bob Baffert has been the face of American horse racing for nearly 30 years.
His success on the sport’s biggest stages and his shock of white hair make him hugely recognizable, even to the average person who doesn’t follow the sport outside of the Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Steve Asmussen is caught off guard when asked about his achievements, mainly because he’s too focused on training horses to reflect.
And the fun he’s had doing so keeps him driven to attain more success.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Zandon and filly Nest are the morning-line favorites for the 148th Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, at Churchill Downs, which will host both marquee races at full capacity for the first time since 2019.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Derby is the next major sporting event to move a step closer to normalcy after two years of upheaval adjusting to COVID-19 restrictions.
After fluctuating dates and crowds, Churchill Downs will welcome everybody without restrictions on Saturday, raising hopes of getting back to 150,000 or more beneath the Twin Spires.
The Kentucky Derby leads off the first Triple Crown season in decades without the chance of Bob Baffert officially winning one or more of the three races.
Baffert’s absence while suspended shadows over the race, particularly because two horses he trained for a significant period of time are among the top contenders.
A retired New York State Supreme Court Justice recommended a two-year suspension Wednesday for Bob Baffert for repeated medication violations after the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer's hearing with the New York Racing Association.
The Kentucky Derby television broadcast will be produced by a woman for the first time in the 148-year-old history of the race.
Lindsay Schanzer is the new senior producer for NBC Sports’ Derby coverage, overseeing the network’s horse racing production.
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Taiba won the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby by 2 1/4 lengths on Saturday on the last weekend of major prep races for the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Taiba overtook pacesetter Messier in the stretch and went on to win against the West Coast's top contenders for the first Saturday in May.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Cyberknife won the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby by 2 3/4 lengths on Saturday in the richest prep race for the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by Florent Geroux, who got dumped in the post parade, Cyberknife ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.42.
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Bob Baffert has transferred four of his promising 3-year-old colts to other trainers, which will allow them to earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby while the Hall of Fame trainer appeals his 90-day suspension.
A Kentucky judge has denied Bob Baffert’s request to stay his 90-day suspension but delayed it until April 4 to allow his representatives to seek emergency relief through the state's Court of Appeals.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Supporters of legalizing sports betting in Kentucky notched a crucial victory Friday, when the state House passed a measure to regulate the wagering and reap tax revenue from the activity.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Attorneys for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert argued in a Kentucky court Thursday that a 90-day suspension imposed by the state's racing commission would essentially end his career.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Go For Gin, who won the 1994 Kentucky Derby and was the race’s oldest living winner, has died. He was 31.
Kentucky Horse Park announced on its web site that Go For Gin died Tuesday from heart failure.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s racing director has denied trainer Bob Baffert’s request to stay his suspension by stewards in their ruling that also disqualified Medina Spirit as Kentucky Derby winner.
Medina Spirit was stripped of the victory in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Mandaloun was declared the winner after a ruling by state racing stewards on Monday.
The since-deceased Medina Spirit tested positive after the race last May for a steroid, betamethasone, that is legal in Kentucky but banned on race day.