The Road to Kentucky Derby 2021 — after 9 prep races
The Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby began, oddly, with Sittin on Go winning the Iroquois Stakes on the Sept 5 undercard of the rescheduled 2020 Kentucky Derby.
With two points races this weekend, we now are nine races into the U.S. preps — 25 percent of the 36 races on the calendar. So far, each of the races has awarded points to the top four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis, except the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, at 20-8-4-2. And the biggest races, with the winners getting 50 or 100 points, are yet to come.
This year's path to the first Saturday in May has another quirk: With the U.S. classics phasing out Lasix in 2021, points will not be awarded to horses who run prep races on the medication. That came into play in Friday's Springboard Mile, where three of the top four finishers — including winner Senor Buscador — earned no Derby points.
In Saturday's Derby prep, Bob Baffert's Spielberg surged in the final 100 yards to win by a nose over The Great One in the Los Alamitos Futurity. (Watch and read more here.)
Here's a look at the races so far and the next several on the calendar, with this past weekend's races in bold type.
Road to the Kentucky Derby - After 9 races
| Date | Race | Track | Distance | 1st-4th (points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/5 | Iroquois | CD | 1 mile | Sittin On Go (10), Midnight Bourbon (4), Super Stock (2), Therideofalifetime (1) |
| 9/26 | American Pharoah | SA | 1 1/16 miles | Get Her Number (10), Rombauer (4), Spielberg (2), Waspirant (1) |
| 10/3 | Breeders' Futurity | Kee | 1 1/16 miles | Essential Quality (10), Keepmeinmind (4), Super Stock (2), Upstriker (1) |
| 10/10 | Champagne | Bel | 1 mile | Jackie's Warrior (10), Reinvestment Risk (4), Midnight Bourbon (2), Civil War (1) |
| 11/6 | Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Kee | 1 1/16 miles | Essential Quality (20), Hot Rod Charlie (8), Keepmeinmind (4), Jackie's Warrior (2) |
| 11/28 | Kentucky Jockey Club | CD | 1 1/16 miles | Keepmeinmind (10), Smiley Sobotka (4), Arabian Prince (2), Swill (1) |
| 12/5 | Remsen | AQU | 1 1/8 miles | Brooklyn Strong (10), Ten for Ten (4), Known Agenda (2), Pickin' Time (1) |
| 12/18 | Springboard Mile | RP | 1 mile | Senor Buscador (0), Cowan (4), Red N Wild (0), Saffa's Day (0) |
| 12/19 | Los Alamitos Futurity | LRC | 1 1/16 miles | Spielberg (10), The Great One (4), Petruchio (2), Red Flag (1) |
| 1/1 | Jerome | AQU | 1 mile | |
| 1/2 | Sham | SA | 1 mile | |
| 1/16 | Lecomte | FG | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/22 | Smarty Jones | OP | 1 mile | |
| 1/30 | Holy Bull | GP | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/30 | Robert B. Lewis | SA | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/30 | Withers | AQU | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 2/6 | Sam F. Davis | Tam | 1 1/16 miles |
Note: Senor Buscador (1st), Red N Wild (3rd) and Saffa’s Day (4th) did not accrue points in the Dec. 18 Springboard Mile because they competed with Lasix on race day.
With two wins on the Derby trail, the Breeders' Futurity and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Essential Quality is at the top of the points list with 30 points. He also is the early favorite, at 8-1, in Las Vegas Derby futures. Here are the points totals, with horses who earned points this past weekend in bold.
Road to the Kentucky Derby - Points leaders
| Rank | Horse | Pts | Trainer | Stakes earnings* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essential Quality | 30 | Brad Cox | $1,280,000 |
| 2 | Keepmeinmind | 18 | Robertino Diodoro | $379,040 |
| 3 | Jackie's Warrior | 12 | Steve Asmussen | $457,500 |
| 4 | Spielberg | 12 | Bob Baffert | $206,000 |
| 5 | Get Her Number | 10 | Peter Miller | $186,000 |
| 6 | Sittin On Go | 10 | Dale Romans | $139,800 |
| 7 | Brooklyn Strong | 10 | Daniel Velazquez | $82,500 |
| 8 | Hot Rod Charlie | 8 | Doug O'Neill | $340,000 |
| 9 | Midnight Bourbon | 6 | Steve Asmussen | $68,000 |
| 10 | Cowan | 4 | Steve Asmussen | $290,477 |
| 11 | Rombauer | 4 | Michael McCarthy | $120,500 |
| 12 | Reinvestment Risk | 4 | Chad Brown | $120,000 |
| 13 | Super Stock | 4 | Steve Asmussen | $59,000 |
| 14 | Ten for Ten | 4 | Shug McGaughey III | $50,000 |
| 15 | The Great One | 4 | Doug O'Neill | $40,500 |
| 16 | Smiley Sobotka | 4 | Dale Romans | $38,400 |
| 17 | Arabian Prince | 2 | Dallas Stewart | $24,063 |
| 18 | Petruchio | 2 | Richard Mandella | $24,000 |
| 19 | Known Agenda | 2 | Todd Pletcher | $18,000 |
| 20 | Pickin' Time | 1 | Kelly Breen | $153,125 |
| 21 | Red Flag | 1 | John Shirreffs | $72,000 |
| 22 | Therideofalifetime | 1 | Ignacio Correas IV | $39,500 |
| 23 | Upstriker | 1 | Ron Moquett | $20,000 |
| 24 | Waspirant | 1 | John Shirreffs | $18,000 |
| 25 | Civil War | 1 | Tom Albertrani | $15,000 |
| 26 | Swill | 1 | Brad Cox | $9,600 |
*Non-restricted stakes earnings