Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The first of two major weekend events will occur today when Churchill Downs opens its Spring Meeting, featuring the Grade III Derby Trial. The second will occur tomorrow when Arazi arrives from France for the May 2 Kentucky Derby.Arazi, the overwhelming early favorite, was impressive in winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky-bred colt has won seven of eight starts on the grass in France.Catire Bello, a Venezuelan-bred colt, probably will be the only one of the nine starters in the Grade III Trial who will go to the Derby.

No 2-year-old thoroughbred champion has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby as a 3-year-old since Spectacular Bid, owned by Marylanders Harry and Tom Meyerhoff, in 1979. But another one is going to do it Saturday at Churchill Downs.Fly So Free, the 1990 2-year-old king, is the pick here in the 117th Derby. The colt won the Florida Derby but caused some doubts recently when he finished second to Strike The Gold in the Blue Grass Stakes. The track was a little muddy that day. It should be fast Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When trainer Michael Matz arrived at Churchill Downs, he couldn't resist taking a stroll to Barn No. 42, where his Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, was stabled in May. "I walked over there because it will always be a special place to me," Matz said yesterday, as he stood one barn away, where Round Pond, his entry in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Distaff, is stabled. "They have some French horse in his stall now." Breeders' Cup Saturday, Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky., ESPN, noon

The countdown began yesterday for Gary Capuano and Captain Bodgit as the Maryland trainer and his Kentucky Derby contender settled into Barn 40 at Churchill Downs.Captain Bodgit arrived at the racetrack in Louisville about 4 a.m. yesterday. He left late the night before on a flight from Newark, N.J. -- near Aqueduct in New York, where on Saturday he won the Wood Memorial Stakes -- flew to Dayton, Ohio, and then rode in a van to the track where the 123rd Kentucky Derby will take place May 3.Capuano, who drove to Louisville on Monday, said the brown colt walked off the van alert and apparently happy.

Will the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs racetrack be coming to Virginia?Apparently, the race is on between Maryland and Kentucky interests to become operator of the first racetrack in the Old Dominion.On Friday, Tom Meeker, president of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., is meeting in Richmond, Va., with a local group, the Virginia Racing Associates, to try to form a joint venture to apply for a license to build a track.The move is a direct counterattack to the plan assembled by Laurel-Pimlico operator Joe De Francis, who wants to construct a new racing facility near Williamsburg, Va., and incorporate it into Maryland's year-round thoroughbred circuit.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Rick Wilson, who will ride Storm Tower in the Kentucky Derby, won't be the only Maryland jockey racing at Churchill Downs this week.Mike Luzzi will be aboard Marathon Farm's Cormorant's Flight i the Kentucky Oaks on Friday.Churchill Downs officials said the 3-year-old Maryland-bred filly trained by Ron Cartwright, has already been entered for the race, but as of late yesterday, the horse had not arrived.L Cormorant's Flight faces Eliza and Aztec Hill in the Oaks.Marked Tree possibleTom Bohannan, who trains Kentucky Derby likely favorite Prairie Bayou, said that he is leaning 60-40 in favor of not running the horse's stablemate, Marked Tree, in Saturday's race.

The country's two biggest racetrack owners, Magna Entertainment Corp. and Churchill Downs Inc., yesterday announced a partnership that will offer expanded viewing and betting options to horse racing fans on television and the Internet. Coming on the same day that Magna, owner of Maryland's Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, said it recorded a fourth straight year of losses - $87.5 million in 2006 - the two companies announced that: Churchill Downs has bought 50 percent interest in Magna's HorseRacing TV network (HRTV)

Forget the horses. The real winner at today's Kentucky Derby is Churchill Downs, the 119-year-old host track that is riding the world-famous race to riches despite a stumbling industry.Since a top management change in 1984, the Louisville, Ky., track has undergone $30 million in renovations and launched an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at first-time bettors and professional gamblers alike.The result has been nothing short of remarkable. Its $5.2 million profit for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 is up nearly three-fold from levels posted a decade ago. It is below fiscal 1991's record $5.4 million, but that was a year the track played host to the lucrative Breeders' Cup races, which it will do again next year.

Just my luck that I'll be covering the Preakness in a couple of weeks and professional ethics prohibit me from betting the plush Millersville estate on Edgar Prado and Barbaro. There hasn't been a sure thing like this since that old guy told Anna Nicole Smith he was worth a billion dollars. Nobody is going to mistake me for a horse racing guru - I've lost enough money at the track to buy Paris Hilton an offensive line to go with new quarterback boyfriend Matt Leinart - but when I saw Barbaro shoot out of the final turn at Churchill Downs on Saturday, I knew that the Triple Crown already was a foregone conclusion.

The farewell appearance of Cigar, the Maryland-bred who became a champion, will be Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs. He will be paraded before his fans and then retired to stud.Details of Cigar's appearance have yet to be completed, said Karl F. Schmitt Jr., vice president of corporate communications at the Louisville, Ky., track. But he said yesterday that Cigar would probably prance onto the famous dirt oval late in the afternoon, around the time of the featured race, the $200,000 Grade II Churchill Downs Distaff.