Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- With 100,075 fans jamming into Churchill Downs yesterday, Rags to Riches sat off the pace in the Grade I, $500,000 Kentucky Oaks, waiting to make her point. Rags to Riches, the California filly who has been criticized for building her resume against less than the strongest contenders, shut everyone up with her charge down the stretch to victory. With mud flying, the A.P. Indy 3-year-old drew away from the field and beat Octave to the finish by 4 1/4 lengths. "She hadn't been in these conditions before and to be between horses was a concern, but we know she's a very good filly and we were hopeful," said owner Michael Tabor, who won the Kentucky Derby with Thunder Gulch in 1995.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- At 5: 55 a.m. yesterday, Charismatic stepped out from under the shedrow of D. Wayne Lukas' barn at Churchill Downs. With exercise rider Joanne McNamara on his back, the horse striving for a Triple Crown strode to the track for his final Belmont workout.Astride his pony, Lukas led Charismatic onto the dimly lighted track. The strong chestnut colt walked, then jogged, then finally broke into near-racing speed. He covered five-eighths of a mile in 1 minute, 2/5 seconds -- one of the fastest workouts of his 16-race career.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Silverbulletday may have run her way into the Preakness with a two-length victory yesterday in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.Before a record crowd of 101,034 on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, the 3-year-old filly showed again why she is one of the most exciting horses in America. As the 1-9 favorite, she swooped into the lead on the far turn and glided down the stretch for her 10th victory in 11 races.All her races have been against fillies. In the winner's circle, owner Mike Pegram was asked whether she might tackle the males in the Preakness.

A horse doctor from Maryland seems to have played no small role in a two-alarm scandal in Kentucky involving the governor of the Bluegrass State, the nation's most famous thoroughbred track and a couple of scalped tickets to the big race.When last heard from, Dr. James M. Casey, the Laurel horse doctor-dentist and thoroughbred breeder, was accused of trying to scalp a scalped ticket to the Kentucky Derby. (TJI, June 2).On Derby Day, Casey needed two tickets. He met a scalper who insisted that he buy three, at $100 each.

WHAT WE HAVE HERE, once again, is a ticket scalping nightmare and, once again, I ask the question: Why do police waste their time on this stuff? In most of life, you buy something at a certain price and, if you don't use that certain something or don't need that certain something, then you try to sell it -- for more than the purchase price, assuming there's a demand -- and it's legal.It's supply and demand -- a basic economics lesson from Father Guido Sarducci's Twenty-Minute University.But when we get to tickets for rock concerts, major league baseball games and other big events that bring in gobs of money for their promoters, common sense and Father Guido's supply-and-demand lesson go out the door.

The Kentucky Derby is America's horse race, far more important and prestigious than the Preakness, but this year, for once, the Preakness should be a better race.One year after a power outage humiliated Pimlico and Maryland racing on Preakness afternoon, the second jewel of the Triple Crown is benefiting from an unusual combination of circumstances.When the starting gate opens late Saturday afternoon at Pimlico, racing fans should get a more accurate reading of the Triple Crown contenders than was offered in the traffic-choked Derby nine days ago.They also should see a more exhilarating race, thanks largely to trainer Bob Baffert's decision to enter his brilliant filly, Silverbulletday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Bob Baffert added a third weapon to his already mighty arsenal yesterday in his quest to become the first trainer to win three consecutive runnings of the Kentucky Derby.Baffert entered Excellent Meeting, one of the country's top fillies, in Saturday's race here at Churchill Downs. She is also entered in tomorrow's Kentucky Oaks, exclusively for fillies."Right now, I say she will run in the Derby," Baffert said. "But you know me. I can always change my mind."The addition of Excellent Meeting to the 20-horse Derby field prompted Mike Battaglia, Churchill Downs' oddsmaker, to declare the filly and General Challenge the 3-1 morning-line favorites.

Yesterday's final workouts by horses not on the Pimlico grounds did nothing to change the makeup of the Preakness field.Trainers generally expressed satisfaction after a number of entries underwent their final serious tuneups at Churchill Downs in preparation for a flight to Baltimore today.Kentucky Derby winner Charismatic and Cat Thief, third in the Derby, went five and four furlongs, respectively, and trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Cat Thief "could suit the scenario of the Preakness a little better.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The decade began with Unbridled -- and one of the most poignant moments in televised sports.As Unbridled wove his way down the long stretch in the 1990 Kentucky Derby, his trainer, Carl Nafzger, described the action to the colt's frail, 92-year-old owner, Frances Genter."

After Silverbulletday scorched Churchill Downs in a morning workout, her trainer, Bob Baffert, said yesterday that he has begun leaning toward running the filly in the Belmont Stakes."

When the race was over and the victory lap was just getting started, you could hear Calvin Borel's high-pitch Cajun squeal 10 rows deep in the Churchill Downs grandstand. It was a wail of joy, a mixture of exuberance and pride, and every last word sounded as though it were being shouted through tears. "Woooo! Woooo! Did ya see me ride that sucker! Yes, sir! Fifty to one! Oww! It's all in the hands, baby!" If it were any other jockey, the celebration might have felt like a gauche, over-the-top display of emotion.

The Sun's Olympic correspondents, Rick Maese and Kevin Van Valkenburg, are blogging to each other at baltimoresun.com/olympicsblog . An excerpt: To: Kevin, et al. Subject: Before we talk about 2012 ... The rail at Churchill Downs ... in the shade at Amen Corner ... ringside at a heavyweight title fight ... the Wrigley Field bleachers ... in front of the Crazies at Cameron Indoor Stadium. I'm not sure what you think the coolest seat in sports is, Kevin, but I got to think being at the Water Cube these past nine days is pretty close to the top. And sitting in front of a television and soaking it all in from home is not a bad second.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Eight Belles was grabbing all the real estate she could as she pounded down the front stretch in a long-striding effort to catch the amazing Big Brown as he streaked toward victory. It was a race Big Brown would win by 4 3/4 lengths, but Eight Belles had shown her stamina and determination, and the 157,770 fans at Churchill Downs for the 134th Kentucky Derby went crazy as the favorite and the only filly in the race came home 1-2. And then the unthinkable happened. As Eight Belles galloped out around the first turn, she stopped, went to her knees and then collapsed on the track.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Chelokee, a 4-year-old colt trained by Michael Matz, misstepped on a sloppy track in the Grade III Alysheba Stakes yesterday, threw his jockey Ramon Dominguez and suffered a right front condylar fracture. "That's amazingly very similar to what Barbaro had, only in another leg," said Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call equine doctor at Churchill Downs. Dominguez was unhurt in the accident that occurred after a rainstorm and has been cleared to ride Monba in tomorrow's Kentucky Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- --The pre-race buzz all seems to surround the aptly named Big Brown. The hype has infected everyone, even Churchill Downs' oddsmaker, Mike Battaglia, who essentially admitted that despite the horse's lousy post position, the confidence and bluster from his camp boosted the morning-line odds. Here's what I keep thinking about, though: The brash entourage that surrounds Big Brown's barn didn't know what they had. It wasn't until relatively recently they realized a winning lottery ticket might've blown into their stable.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- This time next year, the face of the main entrance to Churchill Downs will be that of the late 2006 Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro. Yesterday, the horse's owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, unveiled a 1:3 scale model of the 10-foot bronze statue of the horse and his jockey, Edgar Prado, that will be mounted in front of Gate 1, the main gate to Churchill Downs. "We chose the work of [equine sculptor] Alexa King because this work made my heart pound," Gretchen Jackson said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Laurel Park trainer Tim Salzman watched in blissful solitude as his filly Bsharpsonata got her bath. "We're not media stars," Salzman said. "We've done everything we can do. We had won four straight going into the Grade I Ashland Stakes and we were the fourth choice. Eight Belles wins four straight and she's Derby-bound." Kentucky Derby Tomorrow, Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky., 6:04 p.m. post, chs. 11, 4

Barbaro's owners will return to Churchill Downs today to honor the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner on the first anniversary of his death. Neither the Jacksons - Roy and Gretchen - nor Churchill Downs would elaborate on plans. The Kentucky Derby Museum, a few hundred feet from the finish line in Louisville, has offered to set up a memorial for the colt in whatever manner the Jacksons deem appropriate. Barbaro was euthanized Jan. 29, 2007, after an eight-month fight for survival after his breakdown in the 2006 Preakness.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- With 100,075 fans jamming into Churchill Downs yesterday, Rags to Riches sat off the pace in the Grade I, $500,000 Kentucky Oaks, waiting to make her point. Rags to Riches, the California filly who has been criticized for building her resume against less than the strongest contenders, shut everyone up with her charge down the stretch to victory. With mud flying, the A.P. Indy 3-year-old drew away from the field and beat Octave to the finish by 4 1/4 lengths. "She hadn't been in these conditions before and to be between horses was a concern, but we know she's a very good filly and we were hopeful," said owner Michael Tabor, who won the Kentucky Derby with Thunder Gulch in 1995.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. // Acombination of images helped the nation become so entranced with Barbaro. The most devastating was the sight of the brilliant 3-year-old colt shattering a leg in the Preakness and then standing forlornly on the track, damaged leg raised, as attendants worked to save him. There also were the newspaper pictures of the flood of cards and flowers he received, as well as a poignant shot of him grazing outside his veterinary clinic in...