BloodHorse news editor Byron King presents his Derby Dozen with a look at his leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 4.
This feature provides a capsule look at three horses who are heating up on the Triple Crown trail and three horses whose chances for the 2024 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve are not quite as strong as they were a few weeks ago.
In this third edition of this blog for the 2024 run for the roses, the focus is on the key Derby prep races on Feb. 3 as well as a few other promising 3-year-olds from recent weeks.
Welcome to 2024 Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule that offers qualifying points for the first leg of the series. The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 4, 2024, at Churchill Downs.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has often captured the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, winning the race six times since 2010, but this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prep on Feb.
Owner John Green could hardly believe what he was seeing when the quarter-mile and half-mile splits of the Feb. 3 Holy Bull Stakes flashed on the tote board.
Jockey Paco Lopez had nursed Hades, co-owned by Green, through languid early fractions of :25.03 and :50.53 with 4 ½ furlongs left to run.
