LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eighty-nine years after Mary Hirsch became the first woman trainer to enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby, Cherie DeVaux completed the journey.

All it took for women’s sports history on North American horse racing’s biggest stage was a hard-charging, 23-1 long-shot, Golden Tempo, who rallied from dead last to hold the ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — I was sailing through Churchill Downs aimlessly, chasing a white whale of a story as a first-time Kentucky Derby attendee whose job was to find interesting sights and scenes.

It was all new to me — the vendors handing out free mint juleps, the elaborate walkways between varying millionaires’ suites — but nothing sung ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland is committing more than half a billion dollars to rebuild Pimlico Race Course and try to preserve its horse racing industry, a gamble made as the project’s costs balloon and its expected returns remain uncertain as the sport shrinks.

The plan calls for $400 million to build a new Pimlico in northwest Baltimore’s Park ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brother jockeys have squared off against each other in the Derby 11 times, but never before has a family rivalry played out like the 152nd Run for the Roses.

Down the stretch, brothers Jose and Irad Ortiz on Golden Tempo and Renegade, respectively, both came charging from the outside. As the pair passed leader Ocelli, it ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Golden Tempo won the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby on Saturday night on an unseasonably chilly, but ultimately sunny, day at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux and ridden by Jose Ortiz, Golden Tempo emerged from a field of 18 horses to win the Run for the Roses.

The horse claimed the Derby ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Golden Tempo bested a field of 18 runners on Saturday night to win the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Golden Tempo’s victory in one of the most prestigious horse races in the world was historic. Cherie DeVaux is the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner.

The victory is also a lucrative one. ...Read more

Great White, owned by Three Chimneys Farm and trainer John Ennis, bucked and fell just moments before the Kentucky Derby, toppling jockey Alex Achard onto the track at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

As other horses were being loaded into the starting gate, the gray gelding reared onto his hind legs and fell to his back, then flipped over and ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Golden Tempo won the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby on Friday night on an unseasonably chilly, but ultimately sunny, day at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux and ridden by Jose Ortiz, Golden Tempo emerged from a field of 18 horses to win the Run for the Roses.

The horse just claimed the ...Read more

This year’s Kentucky Derby will be the most luxurious ever — part of a nearly $1 billion investment plan to fortify horse racing’s marquee event as the sport faces declining interest.

Churchill Downs Inc., the publicly traded owner of the Derby and other racetracks, is offering ever more lavish experiences for deep-pocketed fans, ...Read more

Now far more white than his namesake silver, Silver Charm celebrated his 32nd birthday in February at Old Friends Farm in Georgetown.

The oldest living Kentucky Derby winner is now just more than a year from Count Fleet’s record as the longest-lived Derby winner ever. Silver Charm is one of 21 living Derby winners.

Many of the living Derby ...Read more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Always a Runner won a historic 152nd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Longines Kentucky Oaks on Friday night under the lights and beneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Jose Ortiz, Always a Runner captured the signature race for 3-year-old fillies over a field of 13 ...Read more

For the third time during Kentucky Derby week, there’s been a change to the expected race field.

On Friday morning, Right to Party scratched out of the Derby due to lameness in his right front leg.

This moves Robusta — who began the week third on the also-eligible list for the race — into the Derby field.

Robusta — who is trained by ...Read more

Bob Baffert is flying under the radar as this year’s Kentucky Derby creeps closer.

That’s an unusual spot for the famed 73-year-old trainer to be in at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Last year marked Baffert’s return to the Run for the Roses after being away for three years. The context surrounding that absence — Baffert won the 2021 ...Read more

Those looking for a handicapping edge in Saturday night’s Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville should look to the top of the odds board, then disregard it.

The Derby is currently in a dry spell when it comes to favorites winning the race.

It’s been eight years since the post-time favorite has won the Derby. ...Read more

The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby appears to be a wide-open race.

And that was the general sentiment before the 4-1 morning-line favorite, Renegade, drew the No. 1 post position, which hasn’t produced a Derby winner since Ferdinand won from the rail in 1986.

That’ll be 40 years of history for the Arkansas Derby winner to overcome ...Read more

Among the roster of jockeys expected to ride in the 2026 Kentucky Derby are five previous winners and seven first-time riders.

Yet the most motivated competitor riding in the 152nd Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs will likely come from neither the prior winners nor the first timers.

It likely is one of the following four riders.

There are...Read more

Each year in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby, chatter that fills the early-morning air on the backside at Churchill Downs.

There’s scuttlebutt on everything from a how a horse appears while feeding and resting in the barn to how a thoroughbred looks while training on the track ahead of the Grade 1, $5 million race.

Sometimes, the talk is ...Read more

It was a mixed bag of news for gray horse enthusiasts in the days leading up to the 2026 Kentucky Derby.

On Wednesday, Great White was added to the field from the also-eligible list after the scratch of Silent Tactic, giving the field three gray horses. But one day later, Brad Cox-trained Fulleffort was scratched, dropping the number back to ...Read more

Another horse has scratched from the expected Kentucky Derby field.

On Thursday morning, it was announced that Fulleffort won’t be running in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The news was publicized by the Kentucky Derby’s official accounts on social media.

According to David Grening of the Daily Racing Form, ...Read more