LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – The bourbon is flowing again, fancy hats and humans are on the scene, and 20 horses are ready to run the most chaotic race. After being disrupted by a pandemic, the Kentucky Derby is back with many traditions intact.
America’s longest continuously held sporting event returns to its traditional spot on the calendar – the first Saturday in May. The 147th edition comes less than eight months after being run without spectators last September because of COVID-19, making it the shortest time between Derbies in history. “I was hoping to enjoy my Derby win a little longer,” joked trainer Bob Baffert, who earned his sixth last year with Authentic.
The eerie silence that settled over Churchill Downs last year when no spectators were allowed is being replaced by an attendance of about 45,000 – some 100,000 less than usual. Masks are required. Food and drinks are all-inclusive to lessen long lines and separate payments for every transaction.
Last year’s upside-down Triple Crown has been righted with the Derby restored to its usual day. The Preakness follows on May 15, and the Belmont, which kicked off the series a year ago, concludes on June 5.
Essential Quality is the early 2-1 favorite on Saturday and has the bona fides. The striking gray colt was last year’s 2-year-old champion. He comes in undefeated in five career starts. The previous unbeaten colt to win the Derby was Justify in 2018, and he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.
Essential Quality is owned and bred by Godolphin Racing, the stable of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, who is 0-for-11 in his decades-long quest to win America’s greatest race. A victory by Essential Quality would bring extra scrutiny of human rights issues involving the sheik, who won’t be among the limited fans in attendance. This week, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission received a complaint from a group of human rights attorneys and students at the University of Louisville seeking to have Sheikh Mohammed banned from the Derby over alleged human rights abuses. A judge in England ruled that he orchestrated the abductions of two of his adult daughters. Essential Quality’s jockey, Luis Saez, is seeking his first Derby win after crossing the finish line first aboard Maximum Security in 2019 only to have his colt disqualified.
last year.
Besides Essential Quality, the other undefeated horses in the field are 5-1 Rock Your World and 50-1 Helium, both 3-0. Rock Your World won his first two starts on turf before switching to dirt and winning the Santa Anita Derby.
Two-time Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill goes for another with an 8-1 shot Hot Rod Charlie, a colt co-owned by his nephew Patrick O’Neill and four of his former Brown University football teammates. “It’s going to be the race of a lifetime for these guys,” Doug O’Neill said.
For all its tradition, this year’s Derby is one of the firsts:
– It’s the first to be run without Lasix. Previously allowed on race day, the anti-bleeding medication has been banned by Churchill Downs and the other Triple Crown tracks.
– Brad Cox attempts to become the first Louisville-born trainer to win. Besides saddling Essential Quality, he has a 15-1 shot Mandaloun, whose Juddmonte Farms owner Saudi Prince Khalid bin Abdullah died in January. Cox says a victory would make him “a pretty good ‘Jeopardy!’ question that nobody will answer.”
– Kendrick Carmouche, aboard Bourbonic, could be the first Black jockey to win in 119 years. Black riders won the Derby in 15 of its first 28 editions.
– Vicki Oliver saddles 50-1 shot Hidden Stash to become the first female trainer to win. Shelley Riley finished second with Casual Lies in 1992.
– Baffert, tied with Ben Jones for the most Derby wins at six, goes for a record seventh with Medina Spirit, a 15-1 shot after his other hopefuls were derailed along the Derby trail. “I’m coming in there quiet, but I need luck,” he said.
– Mike Smith, aboard 20-1 shot Midnight Bourbon, would be the oldest jockey to win at age 55.
Saturday’s forecast calls for sunshine, low humidity, and a high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius).
Post time is 6:57 p.m. EDT.
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