Kentucky Derby Preview - and Foal Four

Well, it's 26 days to the Running of the Roses - The 144th annual running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.  Other races and other sporting events did not take place during the years of World Wars I and II, but the Kentucky Derby continued each and every year.
   Currently, The Kentucky Derby is run over a distance of 1 1/4 miles (10 furlongs, or 2,012 meters); it has always been run on the main dirt track; the field is open to 3-year-old thoroughbreds only (and they must qualify via a point system); colts and geldings (the males) carry 126 pounds, and, if a filly runs in the Roses, she carries 121 pounds.
   For the first 20 years of the Kentucky Derby, the distance was 1 and 1/2 miles.  Aristides won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, a year after Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr started the Louisville Jockey Club. The fastest time for the 1 1/2 mile Derby was run by Spokane in 1889, in a time of 2:34.5.  In 1896, the length was shortened to 1 and 1/4 miles, and the fastest time recorded for this distance was clocked by Secretariat in 1973, at 1:59 2/5.
   A few facts:  The greatest winning margin in the Kentucky is 8 lengths, which has been accomplished by four horses: Old Rosebud in 1914, Johnstown in 1939, Whirlaway in 1941, and Assault in 1946.  Two jockeys have each won 5 Kentucky Derbys: Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack.  The trainer with the most wins is Ben A Jones, with 6.  The owner with the most wins is Calumet Farm with 8.  And the longest betting odds for a winner was on Donerail, who won in 1913.
   With the Kentucky Derby limited to only 20 starters, the point system came into being.  Most of the Kentucky Derby prep races have been run, but there are still two left - to be run on Saturday, 13 April - the Arkansas Derby and the Lexington Stakes.  In the meantime, here are the current top 25 leaders in the point system.  The current number in the standings, followed by the name of the horse, followed by the name of the trainer:
  1.   Tacitus     Bill Mott
  2.   Vekoma    George Weaver
  3.   Plus Que Parfait    Brendan Walsh
  4.   Roadster    Bob Baffert
  5.   By My Standards    W Bret Calhoun
  6.   Maximum Security    Jason Servis
  7.   Game Winner    Bob Baffert
  8.   Code of Honor    Shug McGaughey
  9.   Haikal      Kiaran McLaughlin
 10.   War of Will    Mark Casse
 11.   Long Range Toddy    Steve Asmussen
 12.   Tax     Danny Gargan
 13.   Cutting Humor    Todd Pletcher
 14.   Win Win Win    Michael Trombetta
 15.   Gray Magician    Peter Miller
 16.   Spinoff     Todd Pletcher
 17.   Bodexpress    Gustavo Delgado
 18.   Signalman     Kenny McPeek
 19.   Omaha Beach    Dick Mandella
 20.   Bourban War     Mark Henning
 21.   Somelikeithotbrown     Mike Maker
 22.   Instagrand     Jerry Hollendorfer
 23.   Anothertwistafate     Blaine D Wright
 24.   Country House     Bill Mott
 25.   Sueno    Keith Desormeaux


In other news - Chincoteague pony news, that is -  the second foal born on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge this spring, the bay pinto baby out of Danny's Girl Splash, and sired by Hoppy, is a filly.  (Photo copyrighted by DSC Photography)

  And Captain Dan Davis came through again, on the Foal Patrol, spotting the fourth foal - a gorgeously marked pinto sired by the Don Leonard Stud II (DLSII) and out of the Misty-family mare, Moon.  Captain Dan had to take the photos looking into the sun, so they aren't the greatest - but the baby is very nice!!  Looks like a bald face, a white butt and backs of the hind legs with a dark tail-tip, and white markings on the neck and withers...  A bay pinto, I think (but maybe a dark chestnut).