The 2026 Oaklawn Handicap feels like a throwback race to a bygone era in sport where true horse racing heavyweights of the handicap/older male division would meet regularly in marquee stakes across the country.
Welcome to Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we take a look each week at a recent winner on the Road to the Derby schedule with races offering qualifying points for the 1 ¼-mile classic May 2, 2026, at Churchill Downs.
There should be no mention of the mighty Triple Crown champion Secretariat without pointing to jockey Ron Turcotte as an integral member of a dynamite team.
It might appear from watching replays of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in 1973 as if Turcotte was merely a passenger taken for a wonderful ride by the gleaming colt they called “Big Red.” But Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner, knew better.
