APHere’s a glance at several top contenders:
“He’s getting stronger and seems to improve after every race,” trainer Dan Hendricks said. “It looks like he’s put on weight.”
Hendricks, paralyzed below the waist since a 2004 motocross accident, says jockey Alex Solis will have Brother Derek up front “but he’s just going to take it as it comes, and decide what to do.”
The chestnut colt couldn’t win on turf or Polytrack, but is 7-for-7 on dirt and takes a six-race winning streak into Churchill Downs. When jockey John McKee climbs aboard, Lawyer Ron will be the most seasoned starter with 14 races.
“The races don’t seem to take a lot out of him,” Holthus said. “He’s durable and bounces back quick.”
Lawyer Ron is owned by the estate of James T. Hines Jr. The horse is named for attorney Ron Bamberger, who manages the estate. Hines died Feb. 21 at his home in Owensboro, Ky.
Barbaro will be ridden by Edgar Prado and is trained by Michael Matz, a three-time Olympian in equestrian and a survivor of a plane crash 17 years ago in an Iowa cornfield.
Matz, who turned to training about eight years ago, says Barbaro “has enough tactical speed to put himself up close, but Edgar will have to feel it out from there.”
Bob and John couldn’t beat Brother Derek in California, so Baffert sent him East and the colt won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Bob and John will likely be somewhere just behind the leaders before making a run at the lead.
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Sinister Minister wowed ’em in the Blue Grass with a 12¾-length, gate-to-wire romp. And there’s no doubt the colt will try to wire the Derby field, just like Baffert’s last Derby winner, War Emblem, did in 2002.
“There’s so much speed in this Derby,” Baffert said. “There’s a lot of quality, a lot of depth. You just can’t pick one horse out and say, ’That horse can’t lose.”’
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |