Kentucky Derby Blog

2010 Kentucky Derby post position will be drawn today at Secretariat Lounge, 2nd floor of the Churchill Downs clubhouse at 12 p.m. EST and the field will be set. It will be live broadcast on HRTV (Dish Network channel 404; Insight Communications channel 564 in Louisville), WAVE-3, WHAS-11, WLKY-32.

The draw won’t be open to the public and invitations and media credentials only

For the first time since 1997, the draw will be a traditional “pill pull,” in which horses’ entry blanks are pulled simultaneously with a numbered pill to determine what stall a horse will break from in the starting gate.

The past 12 years, Churchill used a two-tier, made-for-television process in which the horses’ representatives picked the starting posts. With ESPN no longer televising the draw, that format was dropped.

This morning, fourteen three year old fillies drew into the field for Friday’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Blind Luck is your morning line favorite at 6/5, with Crisp, Tidal Pool, and Amen Hallelujah sharing the second spot at 8/1. As expected, Todd Pletcher’s Devil May Care did not cross-enter into the Oaks and is only targeting Saturday’s Derby.

The post time for 2010 Kentucky Oaks is 5:45 pm EST at Churchill Downs and it is the race 11. It will be live broadcast on Bravo tv at 5:00-6:00pm.

Grade 1, $584,300 Kentucky Oaks

Post	Horse	Jockey	M/L Odds
1	It’s Tea Time	Alan Garcia	15-1
2	Jody Slew	Miguel Mena	30-1
3	Quiet Temper	Robby Albarado	10-1
4	Age of Humor	Rajiv Maragh	30-1
5	Blind Luck	Rafael Bejarano	6-5
6	Beautician	Alex Solis	15-1
7	Crisp	Joel Rosario	8-1
8	Tidal Pool	Calvin Borel	8-1
9	Bella Diamante	Mike Smith	30-1
10	Champagne d’Oro	Martin Garcia	30-1
11	Evening Jewel	Kent Desormeaux	10-1
12	Ailalea	John Velazquez	15-1
13	Amen Hallelujah	Julien Leparoux	8-1
14	Joanie’s Catch	Paco Lopez	30-1

The 2010 Kentucky Derby took a huge blow this past weekend when trainer Todd Pletcher, who had roughly 6 to 7 possible starters in the race, announced that because of swelling in his left front leg, Eskendereya, who would have been a huge favorite, had been pulled from the race.

Eskendereya’s departure wasn’t the only news this past weekend from the Pletcher barn.

Another one of their Derby contenders, Rule, came out of his work not looking his best leading Pletcher to announce that he was on the fence regarding Rule’s entry into the Kentucky Derby.

This is the 2010 Derby Wager and morning lines posted on kentuckyderby.com.
Last Updated on April 25, 2010 12:40pm EST
Pool Total: $224,358.43

Number	Name	Trainer	Morning Line	Current Odds
1	Aikenite	Todd Pletcher	50	58
2	Alphie’s Bet	Alexis Barba	15	46
3	Awesome Act	Jeremy Noseda	15	13
4	Caracortado	Michael Machowsky	20	27
5	Connemara	Todd Pletcher	20	77
6	Conveyance	Bob Baffert	20	19
7	Discreetly Mine	Todd Pletcher	20	44
8	Dublin	D. Lukas	15	18
9	Eskendereya	Todd Pletcher	5	5
10	Homeboykris	Richard Dutrow, Jr.	50	72
11	Ice Box	Nicholas Zito	12	19
12	Interactif	Todd Pletcher	20	26
13	Jackson Bend	Nicholas Zito	30	46
14	Lookin At Lucky	Bob Baffert	6	9/2
15	Make Music for Me	Alexis Barba	30	40
16	Noble’s Promise	Kenneth McPeek	12	19
17	Odysseus	Thomas Albertrani	20	18
18	Pleasant Prince	Wesley Ward	20	38
19	Rule	Todd Pletcher	20	30
20	Schoolyard Dreams	Derek Ryan	30	44
21	Sidney’s Candy	John Sadler	15	22
22	Super Saver	Todd Pletcher	20	35
23	Tempted to Tapit	Steve Klesaris	50	45
24	All Other Three Ye		8	9/2

2010 Kentucky Derby is only 5 days away.  NBC will broadcast the activities, which begin on May 1st 2010 at 5:00 EDT. The post positions to be announced several days beforehand on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 and the post time is set at approx. 6:15 PM. EST.

If you can’t wait until May 1 for a race, the Kentucky Oaks race will take place on April 30, 2010 at Churchill Downs – one day before the historic race begins.  This is a great race with a great purpose, as the traditions have morphed into more of a Charity event.  The official color of the Kentucky Oaks race  is Pink and the charity partner is the Susan G Komen for the Cure organization.

SIDNEY’S CANDY is trained by John Sadler and will be mounted by Joe Talamo in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. SIDNEY’S CANDY is coming off a hard fought 1st place finish with a win over Interactif or Caracortado in the grade 1 2010 Santa Anita Derby. Expect to see Interactif or Caracortado again as both of these colts will be looking to earn a better finishing position over SIDNEY’S CANDY in the 2010 Kentucky Derby.

Sired by Candy Ride, SIDNEY’S CANDY is listed at 7/1 to win the Kentucky Derby 2010 and is posted with 60/1 odds to take the 2010 Triple Crown.

Date	Finish	Jockey	Race	1st	2nd	3rd	Time
04/03/10	1st	J Talamo	Santa Anita Derby	Sidney’s Candy	Setsuko	Lookin At Lucky	1:48.00
03/13/10	1st	J Talamo	San Felipe	Sidney’s Candy	Interactif	Caracortado	1:42.30
02/15/10	1st	J Talamo	San Vicente	Sidney’s Candy	Tiny Woods	Classical Slew	1:20.91
12/30/09	4th	J Talamo	Allow	Tiny Woods	Cardiff Giant	Indian Firewater	1:08.89
08/22/09	1st	J Talamo	MSW	Sidney’s Candy	Who’s Up	Oceanographer	1:02.71
07/25/09	2nd	J Talamo	MSW	Tiny Woods	Sidney’s Candy	Samardo	1:04.31

Noble’s Promise is a classic pace presser/stalker; the furthest behind the leaders that this colt has been in any of his career wins is just three lengths. His race in the Arkansas Derby saw him eight lengths back after a half but that was primarily due to a little bit of a rough trip leaving the gate.

Despite the fact that his running lines always show him up near the lead early on, Noble’s Promise doesn’t display a tremendously quick burst from the gate and has generally found himself near the lead due to a slow early pace. Given the prospects of several speed horses in the Derby field, this colt looks like a horse that is going to find himself in the middle of the pack instead of a length or two off of the lead.

How he got to the Derby: Noble’s Promise put together an excellent juvenile campaign that saw him win a listed stake at Presque Isle Downs, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, followed up by a third place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita and a second place finish to Lookin At Lucky in the Grade 1 Cash Call Futurity at Hollywood Park.

Date	Finish	Jockey	Race	1st	2nd	3rd	Time
04/10/10	5th	R Albarado	Arkansas Derby-G1	Line Of David	Super Saver	Dublin	1:49.37
03/13/10	2nd	R Albarado	Rebel-G2	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	Dublin	1:43.06
12/19/09	2nd	R Bejarano	CashCall Futurity-G1	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	Make Music For Me	1:43.30
11/07/09	3rd	W Martinez	Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-G1	Vale Of York	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	1:43.48
10/10/09	1st	W Martinez	Breeders’ Futurity-G1	Noble’s Promise	Aikenite	Roman Invasion	1:43.12
09/26/09	1st	W Martinez	Fitz Dixon Jr Memorial Juvenile	Noble’s Promise	Grand Slam Andre	Peppi Knows	1:15.87
09/05/09	1st	M Mena	MSW	Noble’s Promise	Gentleman John	Pronto Caballo	1:02.33
04/23/09	2nd	K Desormeaux	MSW	China	Noble’s Promise	Doc Thunderbolt	0:50.36

Lookin At Lucky, trained by three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert, came into the Derby prep season as the No. 1 contender off his 2-year-old championship season. The colt then won the Rebel Stakes in his lone race on dirt — the same surface as the Derby is run on and finished third behind Sidney’s Candy and Setsuko in the Santa Anita Derby.

Lookin At Lucky Past Performance

Date	Finish	Jockey	Race	1st	2nd	3rd	Winning Time
04/03/10	3rd	G Gomez	Santa Anita Derby-G1	Sidney’s Candy	Setsuko	Lookin At Lucky	1:48.00
03/13/10	1st	G Gomez	Rebel-G2	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	Dublin	1:43.06
12/19/09	1st	G Gomez	CashCall Futurity-G1	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	Make Music For Me	1:43.30
11/07/09	2nd	G Gomez	Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-G1	Vale Of York	Lookin At Lucky	Noble’s Promise	1:43.48
10/04/09	1st	G Gomez	Norfolk-G1	Lookin At Lucky	Pulsion	Gallant Gent	1:43.11
09/07/09	1st	G Gomez	Del Mar Futurity-G1	Lookin At Lucky	Make Music For Me	Smiling Tiger	1:22.85
08/09/09	1st	G Gomez	Best Pal-G2	Lookin At Lucky	Make Music For Me	Smiling Tiger	1:16.06
07/11/09	1st	G Gomez	MSW	Lookin At Lucky	Sterling Outlook	Ivory Fudge	1:10.11

The following is career earnings in graded stakes races for contenders for the Kentucky Derby as of 4/21/2010. The field for the Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters with preference given to horses with the highest career earnings in graded stakes races.

Rank	Horse	Trainer	Owner	Graded $
1	Lookin At Lucky	Bob Baffert	Watson, Pegram & Weitman	$1,480,000
2	Noble’s Promise	Ken McPeek	Chasing Dreams Racing 2008, LLC	$738,000
3	Rule	Todd Pletcher	WinStar Farm, LLC	$645,000
4	Sidney’s Candy	John Sadler	Sid and Jenny Craig	$630,000
5	Eskendereya	Todd Pletcher	Zayat Stables	$600,000
5	Line of David	John Sadler	Ike and Dawn Thrash	$600,000
7	Mission Impazible	Todd Pletcher	Twin Creek Racing Stables, LLC	$485,934
8	Ice Box	Nick Zito	Robert LaPenta	$457,500
9	Stately Victor	Mike Maker	Thomas and Jack Conway	$450,000
10	Endorsement	Shannon Ritter	WinStar Farm, LLC	$400,000

At the quarter pole, Odysseus appeared to have no chance to win Saturday’s $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby. Even at the wire, it looked like his frantic final surge had fallen short of catching Schoolyard Dreams. But the photo finish camera indicated otherwise with Odysseus eeking out a nose victory.

Odysseus, who won an allowance race by 15 lengths here last month, completed the mile and one-sixteenth in 1:44.31 seconds under jockey Rajiv Maragh and paid $6.

Odysseus, a son of Malibu Moon owned by Satish Sanan’s Padua Stable and trained by Thomas Albertrani, prompted the pace of the 3-2 favorite Super Saver for six furlongs before dropping several lengths behind the leaders leaving the quarter pole. But once settling into the stretch under jockey Rajiv Maragh, Odysseus reasserted himself, angled inward to split the leaders inside the sixteenth pole and got his nose down first in the final stride.