Illinois Derby

LOUISVILLE, KY. - This year, Doug O'Neill and his assistants sat in the office at a barn in the far corner of the Churchill Downs backside. Few reporters dropped by, and O'Neill was not asked repeatedly to relive the running of the Kentucky Derby a day before. Last year's winning trainer, with I'll Have Another, O'Neill instead convened with his robust team to discuss plans for the 138th Preakness Stakes, scheduled for May 18 at Pimlico. Their Derby horse, Goldencents, finished 17th.

Itsmyluckyday will get another shot at Orb. The Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained colt will train toward a Preakness run, his connections told Pimlico officials Tuesday. They'd been mulling over whether or not to go to the gate for the 138th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown. Itsmyluckyday was the favorite in the Florida Derby, which Orb won to become an early Kentucky Derby favorite. Then, Itsmyluckyday became a popular betting choice to beat Orb in the Derby, partly because he had run well over a sloppy track.

Itsmyluckyday will get another shot at Orb. The Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained colt will train toward a Preakness run, his connections told Pimlico officials Tuesday. They'd been mulling over whether or not to go to the gate for the 138th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown. Itsmyluckyday was the favorite in the Florida Derby, which Orb won to become an early Kentucky Derby favorite. Then, Itsmyluckyday became a popular betting choice to beat Orb in the Derby, partly because he had run well over a sloppy track.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - This year, Doug O'Neill and his assistants sat in the office at a barn in the far corner of the Churchill Downs backside. Few reporters dropped by, and O'Neill was not asked repeatedly to relive the running of the Kentucky Derby a day before. Last year's winning trainer, with I'll Have Another, O'Neill instead convened with his robust team to discuss plans for the 138th Preakness Stakes, scheduled for May 18 at Pimlico. Their Derby horse, Goldencents, finished 17th.

May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

Tim's Crossing thrilled the bettors early and fellow Maryland horse Grundlefoot thrilled them late. But when the rain began yesterday after the $200,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico, New Jersey colt Runspastum stood proudly in the winner's circle. The Tesio is Maryland's major stakes for 3-year-olds still sniffing for roses in the Kentucky Derby or black-eyed Susans in the Preakness. But the connections of Runspastum have another idea: the Illinois Derby. `The Triple Crown, that's a brutal deal," said Alan E. Goldberg, the trainer of Runspastum, stabled at a private center near Monmouth Park.

Camera shutters clicked, one after another, creating an unfamiliar staccato sound in Sweetnorthern- saint's ears. The horse turned his dark brown head with the distinctive blaze down the middle of his face and pricked his ears, as interested in the commotion as the ones making it were interested in him. Yesterday was a sunny, but cool morning at Barn 33 at Laurel Park. And it had been a good morning for the thoroughbred, who has become the star of the backstretch after winning the Grade II Illinois Derby to earn his way to the May 6 Kentucky Derby in Louisville.

In this spring of our discontent with the credentials of the Triple Crown candidates, might there be another War Emblem lurking in Saturday's Grade II Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course? At this time two years ago, War Emblem was a virtually unknown colt and the Illinois Derby was an unsung Triple Crown prep race. Then, War Emblem outran the highly touted Repent and won the Illinois Derby. Then, a few days after the race, The Thoroughbred Corp., headed by the late Saudi Prince Ahmed bin Salman, bought a 90 percent interest in War Emblem from the late Russell Reineman and gave him to Bob Baffert to train.

You can stretch it and call the $2 million UAE Derby a Kentucky Derby prep, but the race today in the Middle East - part of the seven-stakes Dubai World Cup program - features only one Derby contender, Inamorato, the favorite today but a long shot if he makes it to Kentucky. A son of Tale of the Cat, Inamorato has won both his races and is considered the Dubai-based Godolphin Racing's top prospect for America's spring classics. The Daily Racing Form ranks him ninth among its top 25 Derby candidates, but acknowledges that a horse with only three starts, as he would have May 3, faces an almost-insurmountable task in the Kentucky Derby.

What many view as the most important Kentucky Derby prep takes place Saturday at Keeneland with the running of the Blue Grass Stakes. Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and 2-year-old champion Street Sense and Robert B. Lewis winner Great Hunter will be the two favorites in the Grade I race over the Polytrack in Lexington, Ky. A win by either one in the Blue Grass would almost certainly make him the favorite when the Kentucky Derby is run three weeks later...

Under a cloudy sky -- and before the eyes of dozens of curious trainers and jockey -- Kentucky Derby-bound Done Talking had his final workout at Laurel Park early this morning. The Hamilton Smith-trained colt went five furlongs in just over a minute under Sheldon Russell, his regular rider and the top jockey in Maryland. Both Smith and Russell said they felt the horse handled the work well. Smith, 67 and a Maryland regular for more than 30 years, has never had a Triple Crown horse.

Maryland's Done Talking, ridden by Sheldon Russell, burst through in a crowded field to win the $500,000 Grade III Illinois Derby on Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. Entering the far turn, 5-2 favorite Currency Swap began to move up taking over fifth behind the leader, 55-1 long shot Frankie Is Rock. Our Entourage (4-1) moved into second and took the lead coming off the final turn. At the top of the stretch, Our Entourage had the lead with 9-2 third choice Morgan's Guerrilla in second and the favorite racing third.

SUNDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS IndyCar Honda Indy GP of Alabama VS.3 MLB Washington@Mets MASN, 501 Texas@Orioles MASN21:30 Philadelphia@Atlanta TBS1:30 Cubs@Milwaukee WGN-A2 Texas@Orioles (T) MASN5 Yankees@Boston ESPN8 MLB Washington@Mets (T) MASN11:30 C. base. Auburn@Kentucky CSN1 UC Irvine@Cal State Fullerton ESPNU5 NBA Chicago@Orlando 2, 71 Boston@Miami 2, 73:30 New York@Indiana NBA7 Oklahoma City@Lakers NBA9:30 PGA Masters: final round 13, 92 NHL Detroit@Chicago 11, 412:30 Dallas@Minnesota NHL6 Horses Wood Memorial/Illinois Derby (T)

What many view as the most important Kentucky Derby prep takes place Saturday at Keeneland with the running of the Blue Grass Stakes. Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and 2-year-old champion Street Sense and Robert B. Lewis winner Great Hunter will be the two favorites in the Grade I race over the Polytrack in Lexington, Ky. A win by either one in the Blue Grass would almost certainly make him the favorite when the Kentucky Derby is run three weeks later...

Nobiz Like Shobiz has so much potential that his trainer, Barclay Tagg, said weeks ago that he felt his horse was the perfect horse for the Kentucky Derby. Tagg was, however, quick to add: "I'm not saying that'll make him win the Derby. ... I'm not being overly optimistic or anything like that. It's just he's the perfect type that you could ever design to go into something like this. He's got beautiful conformation, a very strong horse, a very, very fast horse and he does things very, very easily."

SATURDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS IndyCar Honda Indy GP of Alabama: qualifying VS.6 NASCAR Sprint Cup Samsung Mobile 500 45, 57 F1 Malaysia SPEED3:30 a.m. MLB Yankees@Boston 45, 51 Tampa Bay@White Sox WGN-A4 Washington@Mets MASN7 Texas@Orioles (doubleheader) MASN24:30 Cubs@Milwaukee MLB7 C. base. Boston College@Duke CSN1 NBA Atlanta@Washington CSNP, TCN7 Utah@San Antonio NBA8:30 PGA Masters: third round 13, 93:30 M. hockey NCAA final: teams TBA ESPN7 NHL Washington@Florida CSN7 Montreal@Toronto NHL7 Phoenix@San Jose TCN10:30 Horses Wood Memorial/Illinois Derby MASN5 M. lax. Binghamton@UMBC 2Noon North Carolina@Virginia ESPNNoon Cornell@Harvard CBSSN2:15 Syracuse@Princeton ESPNU4 W. lax. Colgate@Navy CBSSNNoon Soccer Wolverhampton vs. Everton ESPN27:30 a.m. MLS New York@Philadelphia ESPN27 WTA Family Circle Cup: semifinal ESPN21 ATP U.S. Clay Courts: semifinals TENNIS2 RADIO HIGHLIGHTS ...