Three-year-old racehorses take center stage in the spring, especially in Kentucky nearing the first Saturday in May. Keeneland’s spring meet begins Friday, April 3, and the marquee race of the meet will be held Saturday, April 4, with the 102^nd running of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes.

The $1.25 million, 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old Kentucky Derby hopefuls drew a field of nine, including Rebel Stakes winner Class President, and historically has been a key prep race for the first jewel of the Triple Crown. Twenty-three Blue Grass Stakes participants went on to win the run for the roses, including legends such as Whirlaway (1941), Northern Dancer (1964), and Spectacular Bid (1979). The Blue Grass ranks second behind the Florida Derby, which has produced 26 Kentucky Derby winners, as a Kentucky Derby steppingstone; however, the most recent Blue Grass runner to go on to Derby glory was Street Sense in 2007.

The Blue Grass distributes qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN and FanDuel TV with a scheduled post time of 6:22 p.m. ET.

Read on for information about each of the Blue Grass entrants:

Talkin, far, wins debut at Saratoga (Eclipse Sportswire)

1. Talkin (12-1 morning-line odds)

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Trainer: Danny Gargan

Owners: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and R.A. Hill Stable

Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $166,750

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 88

Kentucky Derby points: 10

Pedigree: Good Magic – Rote, by Tiznow

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: A $600,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale, this bay Good Magic colt flashed ability at age 2 with a debut win in August 2025 at Saratoga and a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. He’s been well-beaten in two stakes races since, however, closing out his 2025 campaign by fading to ninth in the Remsen Stakes, defeated by 18 ¼ lengths, before opening his 3-year-old season with a fifth-place finish behind The Puma in the ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby. A silver lining from the Tampa Bay Derby is that his 87 Equibase Speed Figure was just a point off his career best, but Talkin must improve significantly in his second start of the year just to be in the mix for a top-three finish. Part-owner R. A. Hill Stable raced 2019 Blue Grass Stakes winner Vekoma in partnership.

Class President, inside, wins Rebel (Eclipse Sportswire)

2. Class President (3-1)

Jockey: John Velazquez

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owners: WinStar Farm, First Go Racing, and CHC Inc.

Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $593,700

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 99

Kentucky Derby points: 50

Pedigree: Uncle Mo – Top Quality, by Quality Road

Color: Bay

Running style: Press the pace

Analysis: Rebel Stakes winner Class President is the only entrant in the field who very likely has a spot secured in the Kentucky Derby with 50 qualifying points. He’s been consistent and fast in three lifetime starts, dominating the opposition in his December 2025 debut before finishing second in the Swale Stakes Jan. 31 at Gulfstream Park and winning the $1 million Rebel March 1. He completed his final furlong in :12.35 to edge Southwest Stakes winner Silent Tactic in the Rebel, a win flattered when that rival came back to run second again in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby. Class President is as accomplished as any horse in the field but he probably will need to improve his Equibase Speed Figure to win the Blue Grass, a very strong possibility in his fourth career start for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Pletcher has won the Blue Grass Stakes four times, including teaming with Class President’s Hall of Famer jockey John Velazquez to win the 2005 Blue Grass with Bandini and the 2015 edition with Carpe Diem. Co-owner WinStar Farm raced Carpe Diem in partnership.

Coady Media/Cady Coulardot

3. Great White (15-1)

Jockey: Alex Achard

Trainer: John Ennis

Owners: Three Chimneys Farm and John Ennis

Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $165,932

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 91

Kentucky Derby points: 20

Pedigree: Volatile – Kelly Bag, by Uncle Mo

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Stalker/closer

Analysis: Great White makes the transition from the all-weather surface at Turfway Park to the dirt main track at Keeneland for the Blue Grass. He posted two wins in three starts at Turfway, including a neck victory in a Kentucky Derby qualifier, the Feb. 21 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes. His lone defeat was a fifth-place finish in the Leonatus Stakes in January where he found all sorts of trouble but never gave up and finished willingly. It’s always challenging to predict if a racehorse will handle a surface switch. Great White’s pedigree would seem to indicate there’s a good shot he can make the transition, and he figures to be doing his best running late with a realistic shot to finish in the money at a nice price. He probably needs a top-two finish to cement a spot in the Kentucky Derby but a third-place finish (25 points) might be sufficient.

Hodges Photography

4. Reagan’s Honor (5-2)

Jockey: Jose Ortiz

Trainer: Cherie DeVaux

Owners: West Point Thoroughbreds, David Ingordo, and Gabriel Duignan

Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $72,300

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 105

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Honor A.P. – Rutile, by Medaglia d’Oro

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Pacesetter

Analysis: The probable Blue Grass Stakes pacesetter enters his stakes debut with considerable buzz behind him after back-to-back dominant wins in 1 1/16-mile races at Fair Grounds. His most recent start, in particular, turned heads when he romped by 6 ¾ lengths in a Feb. 19 allowance race where he defeated older horses and produced both the co-best Equibase Speed Figure (105) and top Beyer Speed Figure (96) in this field. He’s plenty fast to be competitive, but Reagan’s Honor faces his first class test against stakes competition in a Grade 1 race on the Kentucky Derby trail. Make no mistake, it’s a significant hurdle even for a naturally gifted racehorse. Creole Chrome to his outside could challenge Reagan’s Honor for the early lead, but I expect Jose Ortiz to send this one and challenge the opposition to come and catch him. Reagan’s Honor’s Kentucky Derby aspirations hinge on a top-two finish in the Blue Grass. If unchallenged on the lead, that outcome is well within reach. Ortiz won the 2018 Blue Grass aboard Good Magic.

Hodges Photography/Paula Tindall

5. Creole Chrome (8-1)

Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione

Trainer: Joe Sharp

Owner: Three Diamonds Farm

Career record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $139,150

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Volatile – Funny Moon, by Malibu Moon

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Press the pace

Analysis: This Louisiana-bred Volatile colt out of Grade 1 winner Funny Moon, by Malibu Moon, ships in from Fair Grounds having competed exclusively against state-bred runners in four starts at the New Orleans racetrack. He’s 2-for-2 as a 3-year-old and enters the Blue Grass off a runaway 6 ¾-length victory in the Louisiana Stallion of the Year Star Guitar Stakes, a one-mile and 70-yard race that he led from start to finish. The quality of competition is a different league Saturday at Keeneland, but Creole Chrome’s speed figures indicate he is not overmatched. He also picks up the services of top jockey Tyler Gaffalione, winner of the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes on Sierra Leone. Creole Chrome should, at the very least, play a major role in how the race develops from a pace perspective as another speedy runner starting from a post position just outside probable pacesetter Reagan’s Honor.

Eclipse Sportswire

6. Further Ado (8-5)

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Trainer: Brad Cox

Owner: Spendthrift Farm

Career record: 5 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third

Career earnings: $390,703

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 105

Kentucky Derby points: 35

Pedigree: Gun Runner – Sky Dreamer, by Sky Mesa

Color: Chestnut

Running style: Stalker

Analysis: Further Ado entered winter as a top Kentucky Derby contender after he followed a 20-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Keeneland in October with a 1 ¾-length victory Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Brad Cox gave the Gun Runner colt a freshening and he returned March 7 at Tampa Bay Downs, where he was second by three-quarters of a length to The Puma in the ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby. That was a solid comeback effort after more than three months off and should be a race he can build upon, plus the result looks even better after The Puma came up a nose short to Commandment last weekend in the Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa. Further Ado owns the co-fastest Equibase Speed Figure along with Reagan’s Honor and profiles as a top win candidate as an established graded stakes winner with a victory on this racetrack. Cox previously won the Blue Grass with Essential Quality in 2021.

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7. Ocelli (30-1)

Jockey: Joe Ramos

Trainer: Whit Beckman

Owners: Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate, and Front Page Equestrian

Career record: 5 starts – 0 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $34,800

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 85

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Connect – Zaila, by Scat Daddy

Color: Bay

Running style: Closer

Analysis: Cross-entered in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino, Ocelli is winless in five starts to date and finished sixth in both the 1 1/16-mile Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 7 at Tampa Bay Downs and the Virginia Derby Presented by New Kent County March 14 at Colonial Downs in two starts against stakes competition. The bay Connect colt turned in a strong half-mile workout in :47.40 at Keeneland in preparation for the Blue Grass, but it’s tough to envision him reaching the winner’s circle for the first time against the best competition he’s ever faced. If a speed duel occurs between the top four choices on the morning line – Further Ado, Reagan’s Honor, Class President, and Creole Chrome – the Blue Grass could set up for a deep closer like Ocelli. He would very likely need to improve his Equibase Speed Figure by a least 10 points, however, to sneak into the top three.

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8. Moonstrocity (30-1)

Jockey: Jose Morelos

Trainer: Jena Antonucci

Owner: Blue Rose Farm

Career record: 2 starts – 0 wins – 0 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $7,480

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 82

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Tiz the Law – Ana Luna, by Dream Well

Color: Bay

Running style: Press the pace

Analysis: Trainer Jena Antonucci made history as the first woman to train a Belmont Stakes winner when Arcangelo won the final jewel of the 2023 Triple Crown for Moonstrocity’s owner, Blue Rose Farm. Like Arcangelo, Moonstrocity lost his first two starts but that is where the similarities begin and end. After an eighth-place finish on turf in his first career start Feb. 8 at Gulfstream Park, the Tiz the Law colt finished third in a one-mile dirt race at Gulfstream in his final start prior to the Blue Grass. He’s the slowest of the nine horses entered in the Blue Grass by both career-best Equibase Speed Figure and Beyer Speed Figure. Moonstrocity faces a very difficult assignment in his stakes debut and should be the highest odds in the field.

Ottinho, far, wins Dec. 31 race at Aqueduct (Coglianese Photos)

9. Ottinho (20-1)

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owner: Three Chimneys Farm

Career record: 3 starts – 1 win – 0 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $80,950

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 93

Kentucky Derby points: 6

Pedigree: Quality Road – Quiet Giant, by Giant’s Causeway

Color: Bay

Running style: Closer

Analysis: Ottinho was cross-entered in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino but he has already been scratched from that race in favor of the Blue Grass Stakes. The Quality Road colt was third in his career debut Nov. 23 in a one-mile race at Aqueduct before winning at this 1 1/8-mile distance at the New York track Dec. 31. He made his first start on the Kentucky Derby trail in the Feb. 6 Withers Stakes and finished a distant third behind Talk to Me Jimmy. This group is better than the field he faced in the Withers, but Ottinho could vie for a spot in the trifecta if he can improve his Equibase Speed Figure by five to 10 points. It’s easy to dream on Ottinho’s pedigree. He is a half-brother (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and was produced by Quiet Giant, a Grade 2-winning half-sister to 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam. Trainer Chad Brown is seeking his fourth win in the Blue Grass Stakes and he previously teamed with jockey Flavien Prat to win the 2022 edition with Zandon.