Latest news with #151stKentucky...MoreDerby
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
2025 Kentucky Derby: Two Triple Crown Winners' Sons To Compete
Publisher trains on the track during morning work outs prior to the running of the 151st Kentucky ... More Derby at Churchill Downs on May 01, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by) American Pharoah is still leaving his mark on horse racing, a decade beyond his 2015 triple crown achievement. But he's not the only one, as Justify, a 2018 triple crown winner, is right with him. For the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, two horses sired by American Pharoah will enter the field, Publisher and Luxor Café, and Justify's son, American Promise, also joins the race, giving the famed kick off to the triple crown three sons of two past winners in the same race. As reported by the Courier Journal after sourcing info from this becomes just the second time since 1919 that two triple crown winners' sons are in the same Kentucky Derby, and the first time since 1952 it has happened. It's all thanks to American Pharoah and Justify. American Pharoah, 13-year-old bred in Kentucky, trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Ahmed Zayat and Zayat Stables, was sired by Pioneerof the Nile. He won the triple crown in 2015 after a successful 2014. Now, in 2025, both Publisher and Luxor Café bear his bloodlines. Luxor Cafe runs on the track during the morning training in preparation for the 151th Kentucky Derby ... More at Churchill Downs on April 29, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by) Publisher, owned by Gus King and the estate of Brereton C. Jones, was sired by American Pharoah and Indian Pride was the dam thanks to the breeding of Brereton C. Jones. Publisher is trained by Steven Asmussen. MORE: Inside Churchill Downs, From Millionaire's Row To The Paddock Club Luxor Café, owned by Koichi Nishikawa and trained by Koriyuki Hori was bred by Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt & Westerberg Ireland. With American Pharoah the sire, Marry's Follies is the dam. According to the Courier Journal, these are the first of the famed American Pharoah's offspring to find their way into the starting gate in Louisville at the Kentucky Derby, even if Promiseher America, a daughter, ran in the Kentucky Oaks in 2023 (she finished last). American Promise trains on the track prior to the running of the 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill ... More Downs on May 01, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by) Justify, a 10-year-old bred in Kentucky and trained by Baffert, was sired by Scat Daddy and had a powerful 2018. American Promise is now in the 2025 race, owned by BC Stables and trained by Wayne Lukas. Bred by Candy Meadows, American Promise was sired by Justify and the dam was Tapella. MORE: The 20 Horses Competing In The 2025 Kentucky Derby This is the third straight year a son of Justify has entered the Kentucky Derby, with three horses in the last two years never finishing higher than 16th. While Justify's offspring have been a part of recent races, the Courier Journal reports that the last time a direct descendent of a triple crown winner entered the Kentucky Derby before that was Quintana, sone of Affirmed, in 1991. Getting two sons, though, that's a 1952 event when runner-up Sub Fleet and Count Flame were both sired by Count Fleet, and Cold Command, sired by War Admiral, were all in the top-nine finishers. The entries of Publisher and Luxor Café put American Pharoah on track to be the third horse other than Count Fleet and Justify having two sons in the same Kentucky Derby field. Three times in the sport's history has the son of a triple crown winner won the Kentucky Derby. That happened first in 1935 when Omaha, son of Gallant Fox, took home the roses. Count Turf, son of Count Fleet, won the derby in 1951, and Seattle Slew's son Swale won it in 1984. In 2025, three horses with triple crown bloodlines can add to the historic list.
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Reason Behind Every 2025 Kentucky Derby Horse's Name
The saddle cloth of Journalism during morning workout prior to the running of the 151st Kentucky ... More Derby at Churchill Downs on May 01, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by) You get 18 characters to work with when officially naming a horse. There are rules of course, all governed by the Jockey Club, but there's also plenty of freedom to dip into an owner's or stable's creativity when coming up with the next winning name. The Jockey Club oversees the naming of every horse. And with roughly 45,000 active names, no two can be the same (horse names do get reused after a horse has been inactive for a period of time, so long as it didn't meet certain thresholds that basically retire the name). As the Kentucky Derby points out, names can't be just initials or numbers, a direct name of a living person without written permission, vulgar, on the permanent list, have won a grade one stakes race in the last quarter century, and they can't simply be a direct reuse the names of horses by the same sire or dam within the first five generations. But what they can be is basically anything else. Explore the backstory behind each of this year's Kentucky Derby names: SF Racing's racing manager Tom Ryan likes his Citizen Bullhead watches, but thought changing bullhead to bull was a better fit for a horse, according to the Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald Leader. As common in horse naming, a direct play off sire Neolithic. Juddmonte Farm opened naming to employees and Final Gambit was the winner, a play off a move in Pokemon, according to the Courier Journal. A decade-old film documentary 'Searching for Sugar Man' told the story of the American musician Sixto Rodriguez, the Rodriguez this horse is named after. Grande runs on the track during the morning training for the 151th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs ... More on April 30, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by) Brian Coelho and Jonn Bellinger, owners of BC Stables (you can see how they mustered that name) got their start with a horse named Summer Promise and their love of America led them to American Promise. MORE: Inside Churchill Downs, From Millionaire's Row To The Paddock Club This Japanese horse comes from a stable where Admire is used in horse names, this time coupled with the Florida city known for a different kind of racing. Café is attached to each name from the horse's home stable and with a sire from famed American Pharoah, an Egyptian reference was apropos. Owner Aron Wellman made a lot of newspaper folks proud by taking his history of being the sports editor of his high school newspaper into horse racing. With the dam's name Nepotism, he was also looking for a name that ended in 'ism,' according to the Lexington Herald Leader. The daughter-in-law of owner Janis Witham uses this quilting block pattern. Owner Mike Repole loves Italian names and since grande means big in Italian (and in Starbucks speak), he's expecting big things from Grande. This horse was sired by Karakontie, a Mohawk word that roughly translates to flying sun burning across the sky. Kentucky Derby hopeful Final Gambit runs at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in ... More Louisville, Kentucky. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Breeding operation Godolphin opened naming to employees and East Avenue is where the firm's Saratoga, New York, training facility is located. Owner Gus King just liked it. Simple enough. Sired by Tiz the Law. This one is a play off the sire Blame. Coal Battle is a play off the sire's name of Coal Front. Yeah, Metallica is involved. Owner Jonathan Green, though, didn't choose it as a straight take off of the Metallica song 'Enter Sandman,' instead because he's a fan of legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who walked onto the mound in Yankee Stadium as the Metallica song blared over the public address system. Godolphin let the employee naming program take a swing at this one. So, Sovereignty was an employee idea, based off the dam Crown. This one is confusing, but straightforward at the same time. The dam is Play for Gold and her dam was Gold N Shaft. We've got a sire in there of Mineshaft and an older dam named Gold N Delicious. The gold theme just fit. Travis Boersma, owner of Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and CEO of Dutch Bros Coffee, named this one after his son, Owen.
