Sports
Trainer Phil D'Amato realizes his Kentucky Derby dream thanks to Stronghold
It’s really quite simple. If you’re in horse racing, regardless of your job or position, you want to get to the Kentucky Derby. But the reality is very few make it.
Phil D’Amato has won multiple training titles at Santa Anita and Del Mar. He’s had 32 starts in the Breeders’ Cup. He’s missing only one thing from his rather impressive resume and that box will be checked Saturday when the gates open in the 12th race at Churchill Downs.
“This is pretty much what I’ve worked my whole career to get to this point,” D’Amato said. “It’s been my dream to have a horse in the Kentucky Derby. And to finally achieve that, I’m still taking it one day at a time. I can’t really put it into feelings. And to be able to share it with my friends, family and owners, it’s just a good feeling.”
When he talks about his “whole career” you are talking years, not decades. The 48-year-old Los Angeles native has only been a head trainer since 2014 when he took over the barn of the late Mike Mitchell. That’s not that long of a wait, unless, of course, you are the one waiting.
The horse that made the Derby dream possible is Stronghold, who won the Sunland Derby and Santa Anita Derby. With trainer Bob Baffert still ineligible to race at Churchill Downs, the weight of California racing was on D’Amato’s shoulders before the Santa Anita Derby. He needed to finish at least third or the state might be without a Kentucky Derby starter for the first time in at least 70 years. (It’s probably longer but records are difficult to verify.)
Obviously, Stronghold did better than third running down Imagination in the stretch to win by a neck. The colt isn’t getting the respect the Santa Anita Derby winner normally gets and is listed at 20-1 on the morning line. Early betting shows him going off at twice that price.
D’Amato is no stranger to Churchill Downs having run a string of horses there and he’s also had horses on the Derby Day undercard on multiple occasions. But his history with the track goes back even farther.
“I started really working pretty much at Churchill Down when I first started in this game, finishing off the day looking at the Twin Spires, thinking about one day, hopefully, getting to the Derby and training a horse,” D’Amato said. “To finally realize all of that … I’m not going to take anything for granted.”
D’Amato was a political science major at USC and then went to Arizona’s renowned Race Track Industry Program. He took all that education and, well, got the same job as if he didn’t have a couple degrees.
“I started from the bottom, working as a hot walker,” D’Amato said. “Hot walker to groom, groom to foreman, foreman to assistant and so forth. I didn’t get to jump through any special circumstances. I worked my way to where I am.”
Those who follow Southern California racing might be surprised to learn that D’Amato has a horse in the Kentucky Derby because he is known as a turf trainer. Chad Brown, also known as a turf trainer, has two horses in the Derby including second-favorite Sierra Leone at 3-1.
Brown’s turf success was by design, D’Amato’s by necessity.
“The [turf] stigma is really only there just by dollars and cents,” D’Amato said. “The economics of the game in California just make it a lot easier for owners to own really good quality turf horses than they do dirt horses. Good pedigree dirt horses go for a lot more money.
“So just by the economics of the game, I’ve kind of fallen into that turf trainer stigma. But I’ve won many Grade 1s on the dirt. My first Grade 1 was on the dirt. So, [being here] is validation and hopefully people see I can train a nice quality dirt horse just as well as a turf horse and get more dirt horses.”
Stronghold will be wearing the No. 18 on his saddlecloth, but because of the scratch of Encino, he will move up to gate 17, which is the only gate that has not had a winner, going 0 for 44. It hasn’t had a horse hit the board since 1988 when Forty Niner finished second and hasn’t had a top five finisher since Don’t Get Mad in 2005.
D’Amato dismisses that gate 17 as any kind of factor.
“I’d rather be on the outside than the inside,” he said. “We don’t need to be stuck [on the inside], getting jostled around. [From the outside we can] get nice and clear and maybe follow Fierceness into a good spot going into the first turn.”
Fierceness, the 5-2 morning line favorite, will break from the 16, which means Stronghold can keep an eye on the horse that is considered the most likely winner.
If there is reason for optimism about Stronghold’s chances, consider that the colt has already won over the Churchill surface. He broke his maiden in Louisville beating two other Derby starters in the race, Resilience and Track Phantom. And Fierceness has only run well every other race and the Derby is in the “other” slot.
More dreams are shattered than realized on the first Saturday in May. Regardless of the outcome, there’s a good chance this won’t be D’Amato’s only Kentucky Derby.
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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