Un Ojo scored a 75-1 shocker in Oaklawn’s Rebel Stakes Saturday to earn 50 points on the trail to the Kentucky Derby.
Epicenter posted a front-running score in the Risen Star Stakes, the first 50-point Derby trail race, to take over the points lead.
A big field, including two of the top three runners in Derby points earned, will contest Saturday’s Risen Star at the Fair Grounds, the first 50-point race.
Classic Causeway won the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs to take over the top spot in the Derby points standings in one of two Saturday preps.
Messier’s spectacular 15-length win in Sunday’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes earned the Bob Baffert trainee exactly zero Kentucky Derby points. Again.
A pair of horses, Early Voting and White Abarrio, scored impressively in Saturday Derby preps to earn their first wins on the Triple Crown trail.
Three races offering points on the road to the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown are scheduled for this weekend, with one having a Midlantic flavor.
The Bob Baffert-trained Newgrange was a game winner of the Southwest Stakes, which got him… well, no points towards the Kentucky Derby, because… Baffert.
The race for Kentucky Derby points is well underway, with 14 races already complete and another up this weekend. So why are 40 points unawarded?
Who’ll win the Belmont Stakes? More to the point, what are the current odds of each horse in the Belmont? Some answers at just about 2:00 on Belmont day.