BloodHorse news editor Byron King presents his weekly Derby Dozen for 2026, with a look at his leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 2.

Three important Kentucky Derby qualifying points races are scheduled this upcoming weekend: the Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Saturday and the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park Sunday.

Check out America’s Best Racing’s Triple Crown page to keep up to date with stories and statistics on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

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1. Paladin

Two years ago, many of Paladin’s owners and trainer Chad Brown came within a nose of winning the Kentucky Derby, settling for second when Sierra Leone finished a nose behind Mystik Dan in a three-horse photo that included Japanese star Forever Young in third. (One of those owners, Michael Tabor, won the Derby separately as owner of the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Thunder Gulch in 1995.) Paladin, unbeaten in three starts and winner of the 2025 Remsen Stakes and the Feb. 14 Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes, gives his connections a strong chance at the elusive Derby prize. The April 4 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland is next.

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2. Further Ado

Perfect in two starts since being stretched out to a route, rolling by 20 lengths in a maiden race at Keeneland Oct. 10 and then winning the Nov. 29 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, Further Ado rates behind Paladin in part due to Further Ado’s success at 1 1/16 miles. Paladin is proven over a bit more distance at 1 1/8 miles. Trainer Brad Cox, who won the Derby in 2021 when Mandaloun was elevated to first after Medina Spirit was disqualified for a medication infraction, has Further Ado clipping along in his breezes at Payson Park Training Center in South Florida in preparation for the March 7 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby.

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3. Nearly

Considered by many the best 3-year-old to race at Gulfstream Park this winter, the Jan. 31 Holy Bull Stakes winner will sit out the Feb. 28 Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes there to await the March 28 Curlin Florida Derby. The move is meant to leave something in the tank for the Florida Derby, and later the May 2 Kentucky Derby. Trainer Todd Pletcher has a phenomenal strike rate in the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby – a race he has won eight times, all since 2007. Nearly’s regular jockey, John Velazquez, was aboard four of those Pletcher winners, plus another two for other trainers. This colt breezed a slowish half-mile in :50.98 Feb. 20 at Palm Beach Downs, but that was a maintenance work so far removed from the Florida Derby.

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4. Commandment

Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth should provide clarification on his ability to handle two turns. All three of his starts have come around one turn at a mile or less, and he has finished well, most recently pulling away to blowout victory in the Jan. 3 Mucho Macho Man Stakes. Into Mischief has sired three Kentucky Derby winners and gets a blend of sprinters and routers among his progeny. Commandment’s dam, Sippican Harbor, scored her most important victory in taking the 2018 Spinaway Stakes at seven furlongs, but she never had much of a chance to prove herself as a router. She exited a sixth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies that fall with a fractured ankle, and when that flared up with a return to training, she was retired.

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5. Silent Tactic

Hall of Famer Mark Casse doesn’t emphasize spacing of his stakes horses as much as other prominent trainers, preferring to run them. So Silent Tactic, after winning the Feb. 6 Southwest Stakes, returns in the March 1 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park along with stablemate Strategic Risk. Silent Tactic must avoid a bounce after a career-best performance in the Southwest, when he blitzed the opposition with a potent stretch rally. The Rebel seems a contentious race with three Derby Dozen horses in the lineup, plus some others that have flirted with joining the rankings.

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6. Brant

A $3 million purchase at auction last year, he won his first two starts at Del Mar, including the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity, before weakening to third after setting the pace in the 1 1/16-mile FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by TAA. Staying power is the uncertainty with Brant. The Bob Baffert trainee retreated late in the Juvenile, though perhaps his lack of a two-turn prep heading into that race contributed to his fade. After some easy breezes to begin the year, Baffert tightened the screws with a six-furlong gate breeze Feb. 21 at Santa Anita Park in 1:11.80. The March 7 San Felipe Stakes Presented by DK Horse at that track appears next.

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7. Litmus Test

Bob Baffert scratched this colt from the postponed Southwest, never sending him to Oaklawn Park from his Southern California base, and now takes aim at Sunday’s Rebel Stakes there with him. The Hall of Fame trainer has won the Rebel eight times, though not since Concert Tour in 2021. Litmus Test has stayed on course in his training as he readies for his first race since taking the Dec. 13 Los Alamitos Futurity with a perfect trip. All three of his routes have been encouraging, with a third-place finish in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile preceding his success at Los Alamitos Race Course.

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8. Renegade

Like stablemate Nearly, Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Renegade breezed a relatively easy half-mile this week, clocked in :50.80 Feb. 20 at Palm Beach Downs in South Florida. Trainer Todd Pletcher has him pointed toward the March 28 Arkansas Derby. By racing Renegade at Tampa Bay Downs before heading to Oaklawn Park, Pletcher is following a similar schedule to Super Saver, the trainer’s first Derby winner in 2010. (Super Saver raced in the Tampa Bay Derby and not the Sam F. Davis Stakes, however.) Pletcher’s second Derby winner in 2017, Always Dreaming, took a racing path through Gulfstream Park, topped by winning the Florida Derby.

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9. Plutarch

He has yet to work since winning the Feb. 7 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park, though there is no great rush to breeze him, as Bob Baffert plans to skip running him in the San Felipe. Plutarch was not among his eight nominees to the 1 1/16-mile race. Immature as a 2-year-old, Plutarch seems to be on the upswing at age 3. “This horse reminds me of Authentic,” Baffert said after the Robert B. Lewis, referring to his 2020 Derby winner. “He keeps getting better every week. I don’t think distance will be a problem with him. This is very exciting. He’s legit.”

UPDATE: Plutarch was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby prep series and will miss the race according to trainer Bob Baffert, who told Daily Racing Form that the colt is still in light training but will target races later in the summer.

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10. Blackout Time 

One of the most talented horses in Sunday’s Rebel, he is nevertheless a tricky read in the $1 million race, not having raced since his runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in early October. Recall that he was a regulatory scratch from the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. Given some time off after being diagnosed with bone remodeling, his training has seemingly gone without issue, though Ken McPeek acknowledged earlier this winter the relatively tight window to have him ready for the Rebel. Blackout Time would seem likely to improve once he gets this comeback behind him.

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11. Canaletto

Trainer Chad Brown considered running him in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth before deciding to stick to his initial plan of running in the Tampa Bay Derby in another week. Having made just one start – an exciting victory on debut Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park – Canaletto is on pace to have just two more starts before the first Saturday in May and can ill afford any regression. He needs to secure Kentucky Derby qualifying points and gain seasoning if he is going to participate in the Derby, let alone challenge. Justify and Mage both won the Derby as unraced 2-year-olds with three pre-Derby starts, though numerous others tried without success.

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12. Reagan’s Honor 

Reagan’s Honor displaces fellow Cherie DeVaux trainee and Lecomte Stakes winner Golden Tempo for the final spot in the Derby Dozen rankings after walloping first-level allowance competition at Fair Grounds Feb. 19. In notching his second consecutive victory at a route, he sped 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.02, just off eventual Grade 1 winner Olympiad’s track-record time of 1:42.01 in the 2022 Mineshaft Stakes. DeVaux told Daily Racing Form his next start could come in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Based on historical trends, Reagan’s Honor would need a 1-2 finish there to secure sufficient qualifying points to make the Derby.