Where are they now? Tracking 2017 Kentucky Derby horses

By Jonathan Lintner 

While contenders in the 2017 Kentucky Derby didn't finish particularly strong, having a non-Derby runner (West Coast) as the highest-finishing 3-year-old in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, there’s much left to prove for the bunch of horses that contended last May at Churchill Downs.

Only four are confirmed to be retired and off to stud, while 12 Derby horses went on to win a race after the Run for the Roses.

Here’s an update on where they are now, with post-Derby records:

1. Always Dreaming (3: 0-0-1) — A serious case of stomach ulcers was discovered after his ninth-place Travers Stakes finish, perhaps explaining poor performance after the Derby. The Bodemeister colt was due to return to trainer Todd Pletcher this week. His 4-year-old schedule is still to be announced.

2. Lookin At Lee (4: 0-0-1) — He arrived back at the track this week, joining trainer Steve Asmussen’s Oaklawn Park string. If Lookin At Lee follows the script, he could have a try at the Oaklawn Handicap ahead. Asmussen had perviously announced a lengthy freshening following a 10th-place Travers finish.

3. Battle Of Midway (5: 3-1-0) — After winning a classy renewal of the Shared Belief stakes at a mile, he scored a 14-1 victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, enough to convince connections 2018 would be better spent in the breeding shed than on the racetrack. Battle of Midway retired to WinStar Farm.

4. Classic Empire (1: 0-1-0) — Beaten by just a head in the Preakness Stakes, Classic Empire ran his final race that day. A hurricane disrupted his training in Florida toward a return, and trainer Mark Casse said a foot abscess prevented the 2-year-old champion from trying the Breeders’ Cup. He has since retire to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud.

5. Practical Joke (5: 2-0-2) — At his best around one turn, Practical Joke went on to win the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga. A third-place effort Dec. 2 in Aqueduct’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile marked the Into Mischief colt’s career finale. He, too, will stand in 2018 at Ashford Stud.

6. Tapwrit (2: 1-0-0) — The Belmont Stakes winner is another who has been off since the Travers Stakes. But he, as with Pletcher stablemate Always Dreaming, is expected to run at age 4. Pletcher said recently he would train at Palm Beach Downs in Florida and could return during the current Gulfstream Park meet.

7. Gunnevera (4: 1-1-0) — He, along with West Coast, will carry the banner for this crop in next month’s $16 million Pegasus World Cup. The Dialed In colt has done his best running at Gulfstream and last out finished in a dead heat for fifth with Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

8. McCraken (4: 1-1-1) — Trainer Ian Wilkes considered McCraken for Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Clark Handicap in November but pulled the plug after what he saw as a sub-par work in the weeks leading up to the race. The son of Ghostzapper is freshening up in Ocala, Fla., for his 4-year-old season.

9. Gormley (2: 0-0-0) — The colt ran fourth in both his races following the Derby, the Belmont and Shared Belief stakes, before it was announced in October that he had retired to Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. Gormley joined 2013 Derby winner Orb as Malibu Moon’s only Grade 1-winning sons at stud.

10. Irish War Cry (3: 0-1-0) — Second to Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes, this is another whose career isn’t over. Trainer Graham Motion told the Daily Racing Form, “I will probably bring him down to Florida with me around the first of the year, and we’ll get him ready.”

11. Hence (4: 1-0-0) — He enjoyed class relief in July, winning the Grade 3 Iowa Derby, and was last seen in September, running sixth in Parx Racing’s Smarty Jones Stakes. No word yet on what’s next for the Asmussen trainee — and he hasn’t yet recorded a workout in the last 60 days.

12. Untrapped (4: 1-1-2) — Asmussen has kept this one in training, utilizing a well-spaced campaign that peaked with a Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby score in September. Untrapped was last on the work tab Monday drilling five furlongs at Remington Park.

13. Girvin (4: 1-1-0) — The Grade 1 Haskell Invitational winner last competed in the Oklahoma Derby and was turned out after that. Trainer Joe Sharp said he’ll winter on a Florida farm before returning to training by the end of February.

14. Patch (2: 0-0-1) — The beloved, one-eyed horse remained on the work tab after his fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby in August but after that was removed from training, likely given a break. More recently, he was a contender for the Vox Populi Award won by the late Ben’s Cat.

15. J Boys Echo (2: 0-1-0) — After a ninth-place finish, trainer Dale Romans rested the Mineshaft colt, who returned to the races in November, finishing second in allowance company at Churchill Downs. J Boys Echo has since joined Romans’ Florida string, where he’s back to work at Gulfstream Park.

16. Sonneteer (6: 1-0-2) — Well, he finally broke his maiden. Sonneteer visited the winner’s circle July 23 at Del Mar and has remained in training, last seen running third in a Dec. 3 allowance at Los Alamitos. He’s stabled at Santa Anita Park for trainer Keith Desormeaux. 

17. Fast And Accurate (4: 1-0-1) — He ran once more in May, and again in June and July, before a brief break from the races. The Mike Maker trainee returned to win Gulfstream Park West’s Showing Up Stakes, a black type, on Nov. 4. He’s now in training at Turfway Park.

18. Irap (4: 2-1-1) — The Tiznow colt did some of his best running after a lackluster Kentucky Derby, going on to win both the Ohio and Indiana derbies. However, during a runner-up finish to West Coast in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, he suffered a fracture in his left-front leg, leading to surgery, a case of laminitis and the decision by connections to end his suffering in October.

19. State Of Honor (3: 0-0-2) — The Canadian-bred went from the world’s most-famous horse race to contending in his nation’s most-prestigious, running eighth in the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine. While vanned off following a third-place effort in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie, State of Honor was reportedly fine.

20. Thunder Snow (5: 1-1-2) — The Derby marked his only domestic start — if you want to call his buck shortly after leaving the gate a start — but races since have been highly respectable, including a Group 1 win at France’s Chantilly. There’s already some conversation pointing him to the 2018 Dubai World Cup given Godolphin ownership.