It was a year ago that prominent Thoroughbred owner and St. John’s University alumnus and mega booster Mike Repole can recall being at Gulfstream Park with Red Storm men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino to watch the Curlin Florida Derby.
My 2025 Thoroughbred Makeover story starts like most of my stories do — with questionable decision-making skills. I sat in my house scrolling on social media one frigid January evening, a barn full of personal and client horses just a couple hundred yards away. As I took in the dozens of horse-related posts that fill my newsfeed, one made me stop and backtrack. A cute chestnut with four white socks and a blaze caught my eye.
What had previously been a rare “off” weekend on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve calendar in past March months is now populated by a new qualifying points prep for 2025.
After a jam-packed weekend filled with major races coast to coast including three prep races for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, the upcoming weekend offers another important Derby prep plus the return of 2024’s Horse of the Year, both on Saturday, March 8.
Due to a possibly tumultuous first week in April in Central Kentucky, the Spring Meet at Keeneland Race Course will start a couple of days later than usual. The meet, originally scheduled to begin on Friday, April 4, will now start on Sunday, April 6 due to a weather forecast that calls for severe thunderstorms and potential widespread flooding for the period of April 2-5.
