Kentucky Derby alumni: Check in with 25 in recent action

The Derby Alumni tracker checks in with the horses who raced in the Kentucky Derby this year and in previous years, keeping up with what they have done since they ran for the roses.

2025 Kentucky Derby

The trifecta from the Kentucky Derby continues to reign at the top of the current sophomore class. Sovereignty, making his first start since winning the Belmont Stakes, won the Jim Dandy (G2) on Saturday at Saratoga in classy, measured fashion over Baeza, the horse who finished third behind him in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont. Fifth across the wire, just a half-length out of third, was fellow Kentucky Derby alumnus Sandman.

Journalism, second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, rallied to win the Haskell (G1) one week earlier at Monmouth. Burnham Square, the only other Kentucky Derby alumnus who contested the Haskell, settled in last early and offered a mild rally for fifth, 8 1/2 lengths behind Journalism.

One other horse from the 2025 Kentucky Derby has seen recent action. Neoequos took a class drop in the Jersey Shore at Monmouth on July 18, got bet down to odds-on, and ran to the money. He tracked the pace in a field of just four and drew off to win by 3 3/4 lengths over the slow-starting Donut God.

Two more from this year's Kentucky Derby field, Final Gambit and Tiztastic, are slated to return to action this weekend in the Saratoga Derby (G1), one of the summer's biggest grass races. Both have previous turf form, though both will also try to bounce back from off-the-board runs in their last outings.

2024 Kentucky Derby

It has been a busy month for the entrants from the 2024 Kentucky Derby, as nine have seen recent action.

Two of those nine reached the winners' circle. Encino, whom trainer Brad Cox moved to the lawn for the Jonathan B. Schuster Memoral at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 5, took to the grass with aplomb. He stalked the pace and ran on to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Runaway Storm in his turf debut. Catalytic, who won an allowance at Gulfstream Park in June, won right back in a handicap July 25 going 1 1/8 miles on the dirt. Though he crossed the wire a neck behind Hades, Hades drifted out into him enough in the lane that stewards disqualified him to second, giving Catalytic the win.

Just a Touch was sent off the 1-10 favorite in the Monmouth Cup (G3) on July 19, but the race was not the fait accompli that the betting public envisioned. Just a Touch made the running, but Surface to Air rallied to the lead in the lane. Though Just a Touch battled on, he settled for second, a half-length short in the end.

Three horses from the 2024 Kentucky Derby field recently ran off the board in stakes company. Honor Marie, who stepped up to the Suburban (G2) on July 4 at Saratoga after an ungraded win at Churchill, never rallied and finished seventh. Endlessly, stepping down in class off a try in the Manhattan (G1), was seventh in the Wickerr on July 19 at Del Mar. Track Phantom, sent off the second betting choice in the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 5, weakened to finished seventh of eight.

Three others ran off the board in non-stakes company, Resilience and Society Man in an allowance and Mugatu in starter company.

Four are entered in stakes races over the weekend. Two will line up for the most important handicap-division race of the weekend, the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga. Those two are Fierceness, who was most recently second in the Met Mile (G1), and Sierra Leone, a last-out second in the Stephen Foster (G1). Epic Ride, most recently fourth in the Mighty Beau at Churchill Downs on June 7, joins Encino in the entries for the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Mile at Ellis on Saturday.

2023 Kentucky Derby

Mandarin Hero finished eighth behind Ranryo O in a conditions race at Oi going a mile on a sloppy track July 16. It was his third start of his 5-year-old year, and he has been off the board in all three outings.

Disarm, unraced since finishing fourth in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) in April, is slated to return to the races soon at Saratoga. He is entered in a pair of races in the coming days. He is a main-track only entrant in an allowance Friday, one of three horses on the MTO list for that 1 3/16-mile race. Disarm also is entered the next day in a much tougher spot, the Whitney, a race in which he finished fourth in 2024.

2022 Kentucky Derby

Crown Pride, making his first start since February, finished second in the Mercury Cup, a listed stakes at Morioka on July 21. He tracked the pace set by Hiroshikun, the eventual last-place finisher, took over to lead, but was caught late by the up-and-coming Kazu Tanja. He crossed the wire a length behind the winner but still a comfortable four lengths clear of third-place Deep Reborn.

White Abarrio, still one of the top dirt route horses in the country at age 6, returns to action Saturday at Saratoga. Winner of the Whitney in 2023, he will try to become the first horse since Commentator (2005, 2008) to win the Whitney twice. A win in the Whitney would also earn him a bid to the Breeders' Cup Classic, a race he won in 2023.

2021 Kentucky Derby

Like the King finished just fifth in a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claimer on the Colonial Downs lawn July 12, but was beaten by only a length for top honors. The Mark Casse trainee, sent off the second longest shot in the field of eight, recovered from early trouble to track the pace, take a narrow lead midstretch, but he was overhauled in the final half-furlong.

2020 Kentucky Derby

The field for the 2020 Kentucky Derby has been quiet over the last month. Enforceable won a Group 1 earlier this summer, and South Bend has worked this year, but there are no new race results in this field.