Kentucky Derby down to 19 starters; Journalism remains steady favorite

5/2/2025

(Louisville, Ky) The 151st running of the Kentucky Derby is now down to 19 starters after 2 late scratches on Thursday and Friday. The first to go down was Rodriguez who was at 6-1 with the early betting down from 12-1. Trainer Bob Baffert decided to scratch Rodriguez after finding a foot bruise and he did not want to risk running him in the physically challenging 1 1/4-mile run with 19 other competitors. This also took Hall-of-Fame rider Mike Smith off his ride in the Derby. Baffert is now targeting Rodriguez for the Preakness Stakes.

On Friday another foot bruise cost Grande and his chance at the bouquet of roses. Grande also was the lone entry for trainer Todd Pletcher and is the first timew in 21 years Pletcher won’t have a horse in the Derby. It also cost veteran and hall-of-famer John Velasquez his ride in the big race.

Baffert’s other horse, Citizen Bull with Martin Garcia up will actually benefit from the scratches as they will not use the inside gate and start with gate 2 out to 20 for the 19 stalls. This will give Citizen Bull a little more room to work with down on the dreaded rail post in the big field.

The scratch of Rodriguez also allowed #21 Baeza to scratch in and will get to run from the outside post. Flavien Prat will ride for trainer John Shirreffs. Prat won the Deby in 2019 but has never finished 1st across the finish line. Prat and longshot Country House were moved up to 1st place after Churchill Downs Stewards DQ’d Maximum Security for interference at the top of the stretch interfering with several horses at a chance at a better placing.

Maximum Security was placed 17th moving 65-1 Country House up to 1st place. It was the first time a winning Derby horse was DQ’d for an on-track running infraction. It took 145 years for that to happen. Prat no doubt was pleased with the win but certainly wants to win one the old fashioned way by finishing 1st.

Prat was named on Baeza as his first call if he got into the race and was also named on Neoequos currently a 50-1 longshot. Neoequos picks up Luis Saez for the trip on Saturday. The irony here is Saez was the one on Maximum Security when he was DQ’d in 2019.

2024 Kentucky Derby Winner Mystik Dan (courtesy Twin Spires.com)

Last year longshot Mystik Dan won by a nose in the 150th Derby with Brian Hernandez riding for trainer Kenny McPeek. Mystik Dan, Hernandez and McPeek were part of the main characters in the current documentary series on Netflix, “Race for the Crown”. (Race for the Crown link on Netflix) The 6 episode series takes you through the ups and downs for horses, jockeys, trainers and owners and is an excellent look at the behind the scenes on racing at the highest level.

Post Time for the 151st running of the “Run for the Roses” is 3:57pm pacific time. Racing at Churchill Downs begins at 8:00am pacific time and is a 14 race card with the finale set to go off at 5:30pm.

There will be 8 Stakes races in a row beginning with the Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile in the 5th race and capped off by the $5,000,000 Kentucky Derby in race 12.

You can watch and wager on the Kentucky Derby at Emerald Downs on Saturday, May 3 with 7 live races also scheduled on the track’s 2nd official day of racing. Gates open early at 7:30am for simulcast betting on the 5th floor only. Gates open for all floors at 11am. The first live race will break from the Emerald Downs starting gates at 1:50pm. There is also the annual Kentucky Derby hat contest with several categories to win. For complete details click on this Kentucky Derby Day Party at Emerald Downs link.