- Always Dreaming draped in roses following the running of the 143rd Kentucky Derby (photo by Jordan Sigmon).
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Grade 1 Kentucky Derby champion Always Dreaming exited his victory in good form for trainer Todd Pletcher and will ship to Baltimore on May 9 to prepare for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes on May 20.
- Conditioner Steve Asmussen’s Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee is under consideration for the Preakness.
- Derby show finisher Battle of Midway will fly back to Southern California on May 9 and is unlikely to run in the Preakness.
- Classic Empire, who completed the Derby superfecta, will remain at trainer Mark Casse’s Churchill Downs barn and is possible for the Preakness.
- Derby fifth-place runner Practical Joke will be aimed at middle-distance races moving forward.
- Pletcher’s two other Derby starters, sixth-place finisher Tapwrit and Patch, who wound up 14th, came out of race fine and will head to New York in the next few days.
- Gunnevera exited his seventh-place Derby finish in good shape and his Preakness status is to be determined.
- McCraken, eighth in the Derby, came out of the race with a small cut on his left hind leg and is doubtful for the remaining Triple Crown contests.
- Trainer John Shirreffs reported that Gormley, the Derby ninth-place finisher, will head back to his Southern California base at Santa Anita and not run in the Preakness.
- Conditioner Graham Motion said the Preakness is unlikely for Derby 10th-place finisher Irish War Cry.
- Next starts for Asmussen’s other Derby runners, Hence (11th) and Untrapped (12th) are to be determined.
- Girvin, who survived a rough trip to finish 13th in the Derby, is under consideration for both of the remaining Triple Crown races.
- J Boys Echo exited his 15th-place run in the Derby in good order and his next start is undecided.
- Sonneteer, the 16th-place Derby finisher, is likely to return to the maiden ranks for his next race.
- Fast and Accurate, 17th in the Derby as a $200,000 supplemental entry, could return to turf and synthetic racing.
- Irap, who finished 18th with a troubled trip in the Derby, will return to his Southern California base on May 9 and not compete in the second leg of the Triple Crown.
- Assistant trainer Norm Casse said Derby 19th-place finisher State of Honor came out of the race fine and the barn will regroup and determine a plan for the colt.
- Thunder Snow, who bucked several times a few strides out of the Derby gate and had to be pulled up by jockey Christophe Soumillon, was found to have no injuries afterwards and is slated to be flown home to England on May 11.
- Royal Mo, who did not run in the Derby as an also-eligible entrant, will ship to Baltimore on May 9 and be ridden by Gary Stevens in the Preakness.
- Pletcher’s Master Plan, who failed to draw into the Derby from the also-eligible list, will make his next start in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 13.
