1 of 2 | Forever Young wins Wednesday’s Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki Racecourse, vaulting to the top of the “Japan Road to the Kentucky Dery leaderboard. Photo by and courtesy of Katsumi Saito
Dec. 15 (UPI) — It’s another big week in Kentucky Derby news, with a legitimate contender popping up in Japan and Saturday’s Los Alamitos Futurity promising to add to the mix as trainer Bob Baffert saddles half the field.
Remington Park also has a competitive field of promising 3-year-olds in Saturday’s Springboard Mile. Oaklawn Park, Turfway Park and Los Alamitos carry on with stakes events for older horses, while Gulfstream Park contributes a turf marathon.
Internationally, 2-year-old turf runners take on Sunday’s Group 1 Asahi Hai Futurity in Japan and, in Argentina, the Group 1 Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini Internacional is the first Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race of the 2023-24 season with the winner eligible for a spot in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Let’s go shopping for some winners.
Juvenile
Wednesday’s Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki Racecourse in Japan turned up what looks to be a really viable Kentucky Derby contender in Forever Young.
The race was the second leg of the “Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby,” and Forever Young, a great-grandson of Sunday Silence through Deep Impact, tops the leaderboard in that series after winning by 7 lengths, going away.
The Real Steel colt remains undefeated after three starts. Perhaps more important, his connections are committed to international competition. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi, “the man in the hat,” has won top races around the globe, including Japan’s first two Breeders’ Cup victories.
Yahagi had Continuar set to run in this year’s Kentucky Derby, but scratched him just before the race, saying he wasn’t satisfied with the colt’s fitness. He then said he’d be back, and Wednesday he indicated Forever Young might be his return ticket.
“Of course, the Kentucky Derby is my dream,” he said. “But we will make a decision after talking with the owner. Yes, I will continue to train this horse so that we would not disappoint the expectation of many people, which includes running him in the international circuits.”
Coming up this weekend:
Baffert saddles half the six-colt field entered for Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity, but the usual feeling of dominance isn’t there — at least on paper.
Wine Me Up, second in the Grade I American Pharoah, comes off an eighth-place disappointment in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Coach Prime and Wynstock both arrive fresh from maiden-breakers.
The non-Bafferts include the Phil D’Amato-trained Stronghold, second in the Grade III Bob Hope at Del Mar in his last start, and two who need to show more in Ace of Clubs and Moonlit Sonata.
Friday’s $300,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in Oklahoma drew from across the country.
Doug O’Neill has Raging Torrent, who was fourth in each of his last two starts, the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and the Grade I American Pharoah.
Glengarry comes from Oaklawn Park with an undefeated record — two wins at Prairie Meadows and one at Keeneland.
Otto the Conquerer won his last two starts, both a Churchill Downs.
Brad Cox has shipped two from Louisville. Locals might play a role, too.
State-bred 2-year-olds go at it in Saturday’s $500,000 New York Stallion Series Great White Way Division and Sunday’s $100,000 King Glorious Stakes at Los Alamito,
Looking forward, the British Jockey Club and Ascot Racecourse have agreed to set aside spots in the 2024 Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks for designated winners of races at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby weekend. It’s a bit of a turnaround, as usually it’s the Louisville track that seeks runners from overseas.
Juvenile Fillies
Saturday’s $500,000 Fifth Avenue Division of the NYSS tops the roster for the young ladies. Also on tap is Friday’s $75,000 Trapeze Stakes at Los Alamitos.
Around the world, around the clock:
Japan
A December extravaganza of 2-year-old racing continues with Sunday’s Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity at Hanshin Racecourse.
The 1-mile turf affair is expected to attract a full field despite the competing attraction of the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at 2,000 meters just 11 days later. Several prospects in the Futurity put undefeated records on the line in what promises to be a test to determine priorities for 2024.
Argentina
Saturday’s Group 1 Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini Internacional at Hipodromo de San Isidro near Buenos Aires is heralded as South America’s most prestigious race and drew a strong field of 14. The winner gets an automatic starting position in the $4 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar.
The 1 1/2-mile Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini Internacional is the first Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series race of the 2023-24 season.
In other action:
Gulfstream Park
Ten are in to tackle 2 miles on the turf in Saturday’s $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Handicap. Last year’s winner and “horse for the course” Value Engineering and McLovin are the morning-line favorites.
There is a 4-year-old gelding in this race named Serifos, who should not be confused with the Grade 1 winner of the same name based in Japan. Another 4-year-old Serifos is unraced in England.
Serifos? It’s a small Greek island that, in legend, once was home to Medusa-slaying Perseus and the Cyclops.
Oaklawn Park
It’s a talented and well-matched seven-horse field for Saturday’s $200,000 Tinsel Stakes at 9 furlongs. Many are on the bubble beween high-level allowance races and stakes events. Strong Quality stays on the dirt after winning an off-the-turf allowance at Churchill Downs in his last start.
Turfway Park
Saturday’s $125,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes, 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather track, has an overflow field with Wolfie’s Dynaghost and Ocean Atlantique the morning-line picks.
News and Notes
Trainers Dale Romans, John Sadler and Shug McGaughey and racing and bloodstock manager Gavin Murphy have joined Horseracing Integrity and Safety Administration’s Horsemen’s Advisory Group.
HISA established that group last year to provide formal feedback on the implementation and evolution of its Racetrack Safety and Anti-Doping and Medication Control regulations.
The Southeastern Conference continues to shine as the nation’s premier baseball conference in 2025.
Nine of the top 25 teams featured in D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25 Rankings hail from the SEC, including No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 8 Georgia, No. 10 Florida, No. 16 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Mississippi State, and No. 19 Texas. Kentucky will face six of these nine teams in conference play this season.
Along with the nine teams ranked, other teams who were left out will likely be ranked at some point this season, including Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. Winning the conference or notching a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament will be an extremely hard challenge this season, especially with the inclusion of two more teams.
The Cats open SEC play in Athens, Ga. on March 14 at No. 8 Georgia. The Bulldogs, who were led by the No. 3 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft Charlie Condon, were swept by Kentucky last season in Lexington. That series served as Nick Mingione’s team’s coming out party, as the Cats outscored then No. 25 ranked Georgia 37-15 over the three game span.
This series will feature even more juice this season, as Kentucky will be facing former Cat Nolan McCarthy, who transferred to Georgia over the offseason. McCarthy spent three seasons at Kentucky (2021-2024), hitting for a .279 AVG with 13 home runs and RBI.
Following a home series against Auburn and two non-conference matchups against Murray State and Xavier, Kentucky heads to preseason No. 1 Texas A&M on March 28. These teams did not face off in the regular season in 2024, but they did meet in the Men’s College World Series. Kentucky fell to A&M 5-1, giving the Cats their first loss in the event.
Kentucky gets its first home series against a preseason top-25 team on April 11 when the No. 19 ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Lexington. The 2025 season will serve as the first in the conference for new head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s Longhorns. Texas is most recently known around the Kentucky program as the college Mitchell Daly transferred from before hitting the biggest home run in Wildcat baseball history.
Although Tennessee lost some major stars from its 2024 Men’s College World Series winning team, Tony Vitelli’s Volunteers will open the 2025 season ranked at No. 4. Kentucky hosted Tennessee at Kentucky Proud Park in 2024 and lost the series two games to one. In 10 SEC series last season, it was just one of Kentucky’s two losses (Tennessee & South Carolina).
The road hits keep on coming as Kentucky travels to No. 18 Mississippi State on May 2 for a road series at Dudy Noble. The Bulldogs were the lone SEC team that did not encounter Kentucky last season.
Finally, Kentucky closes out the regular season on the road in Nashville at No. 16 Vanderbilt. The Cats won the series over the Commodores in 2024, securing a share of just their second ever SEC Regular Season Championship in the process. It was Kentucky’s first series win over Vanderbilt since 2017.
Five of Kentucky’s six series against ranked teams are away from Kentucky Proud Park, where the Cats are 53-13 since the beginning of the 2023 season. Since the beginning of the 2023 season, Kentucky is 27-18 in games on the road.
Very few people have ever admitted they had a great weekend in Starkville, Mississippi. That is not true for the KSR crew — because we’ve never left the place with a loss.
Traveling down a few days early to beat the snowstorm, Steven Peake and I had plenty of time to kill. We stopped in Thursday evening for Mellow Mushroom trivia in Decatur (an overwhelming victory for the good guys, in case you were curious) before getting to Starkville at midnight. That led to a goofy campus tour on Friday, which can be found on our KSR YouTube channel, followed by some College Football Playoff action at the local watering hole that night — MSU coach Chris Jans also stopping in for a glass of wine while we were there.
From there, it was time for game day, talking with students camping out at Humphrey Coliseum for the anticipated matchup, followed by the heavyweight battle that night. You know the rest of the story, Kentucky taking down Mississippi State in a 95-90 victory, led by Jaxson Robinson with a career night. The Hump was rocking, but the Cats were able to overcome a truckload of adversity to pull off the win.
It was an all-time celebration and KSR was right there to capture it all, Peake absolutely CRUSHING it with behind-the-scenes access you won’t see anywhere else. If there is one thing you watch until tip-off vs. Texas A&M on Tuesday, make sure it’s the next edition of our KSR Roadtrip series.
Come for the game highlights and fan interactions, stay for the trivia and Hootie & The Blowfish singalong:
While you’re at it, check out our other MSU campus tour, which featured the craziest book selection you’ll ever see and what we thought was a near-death experience at our hotel:
Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.
Are new uniforms on the way for the Kentucky Wildcats? Mark Pope hinted at some special edition threads potentially set to debut this season.
The UK head coach was asked about any pregame superstitions he has ahead of tip-off, using that moment to slide in a nugget on a ‘little fashion show’ the team participated in on Monday.
“They have weaned me off of my superstitions, even to the point of — we had a little fashion show today of some prospective uniforms that we might break out this season,” Pope said during his call-in radio show. “(UK equipment manager) Mark Evans brought them in with a ton of sensitivity about, ‘Hey, I don’t want to jinx anything.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t believe in that, I’m not into any of that.’ So I don’t really have any game day superstitions.”
It comes just a couple of weeks after Pope was asked if he could bring back the denim uniforms his 1996 national championship team made famous three decades ago. His response at the time?
“Can I tell you this? I’m not really allowed to say this, so it’s just between the two of us: I’m working on it,” he said. “It’s amazing the red tape that we have to go through to make this happen, but we’re pretty passionate about trying to make that happen. We’ll see what we come up with. It’s definitely on my agenda of things to get accomplished.”
Pope said back in April that ‘we should put it in the hands of BBN’ when it comes to uniforms, saying he’d like to see fans vote on what the team wore at some point in the future.
“I would dig that. That would be awesome.”
Does that include denim?
“The denim, you know, I don’t know,” Pope continued. “I love the denim uniforms.”
We’re seeing a trend here, folks. Prepare accordingly.
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