The 150th Kentucky Derby is on the horizon, and while the most lucrative prep races have yet to be run, some horses are already setting themselves apart from the rest.
Entry into the Kentucky Derby starting gate is determined by the amount of qualifying points a horse earns. Free berths have been given to the winners of the European and the Japanese Road To The Kentucky Derby, but the remaining eighteen slots go to the horses with the most points.
At this writing, here are the ten horses with the most Kentucky Derby Qualifying Points.
Timberlake (66 points)
Timberlake was a very talented two-year-old who shows no signs of slowing down at age three. The winner of the Grade I Champagne Stakes last year, he made his second debut a win in the Grade II Rebel Stakes.
Timberlake inherited speed from his sire, Into Mischief (who also has Kentucky Derby winners in Mandaloun and Authentic) and stamina from his dam, Lookin at Lucky.
Find more information about the Derby candidates here: twinspires.com/edge/racing/kentucky-derby/
Dornoch (60 points)
Dornoch was in the spotlight before he ever ran a single race because he is a full brother to last year's Kentucky Derby winner, Mage. Both colts are by Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic and out of the graded stakes placed Big Brown mare Puca. Dornoch has shown that he was earlier than his big brother, having already won the Grade II Remsen Stakes and the Grade II Fountain of Youth Stakes.
Domestic product (60 points)
Domestic Product's win in the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby may have been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the tote board error, but even without a bet, his triumph in a four-horse photo finish was certainly exciting. Domestic Product is a son of Practical Joke, who was a sprinter himself, but who already sired middle distancers such as Practical Move. His dam, Goods and Services, is by Paynter.
Sierra Leone (55 points)
The winner of the Grade II Rising Star Stakes, Sierra Leone is lightly raced but has shown talent and class in each of his three career starts. His sire, Gun Runner, was a ten-furlong specialist, and his dam, Heavenly Love, won the Grade I Darley Alcibiades Stakes. Sierra Leone could be the key to his trainer, multiple Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, winning his first Kentucky Derby.
Track Phantom (55 points)
Track Phantom was a runner-up to the aforementioned Sierra Leone in the Risen Star, but he had built up solid class credentials with previous wins in both the aforementioned Gun Runner Stakes and the Grade III Lecomte Stakes. With Quality Road as a sire and Into Mischief as a sire, Track Phantom could easily enter middle distances. His trainer, Steve Asmussen, is North America's winningest Thoroughbred trainer, but like Chad Brown, he is still looking for his first victory in the Run for the Roses.
Deterministic (50 points)
Deterministic has only two career starts, but both have resulted in victories: he broke his maiden at Saratoga in August, and after a long layoff, he scored a stalking victory in the Grade III Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
He is a son of Liam's Map, who won Grade I races at eight and nine furlongs but never tried longer distances, and his sire is champion sprinter Speightstown, so stamina may be a concern. A trivial point against him is that only one horse has ever won both the Gotham and the Kentucky Derby, that being the immortal Secretariat.
No more time (45 points)
Before finishing second to Domestic Product in the Tampa Bay Derby, No More Time had won the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes in front running fashion. He has run all five of his career starts in Florida, despite being bred in the state of Iowa. His sire, Not This Time, is a half-brother to stakes-winning Liam's Map, and his dam, Baroness Juliette, is a winning daughter of Speightstown, so the same distance limitations that plague Deterministic may also plague No More Time.
Fierceness (36 points)
The 2023 Eclipse Champion Two-Year Old Man suffered a major hit to his reputation with a dull third in the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes, and he looks to rebuild his legacy in the Grade I Florida Derby. He is owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, the same team that campaigned Forte, the former champion-turned Kentucky Derby favorite who was controversially scratched on the morning of last year's Derby. His sire is the fast young stallion City of Light, but he has a source of stamina in dam Stay Thirsty.
El Grande O (30 points)
El Grande O is a veteran in a field of relative newbies, with a whopping eleven career starts to date. He has several placements in graded stakes, most recently the Gotham, but he has two wins in ungraded stakes races. However, he has yet to start outside of New York. His sire is the superbly bred Take Charge Indy, and his dam, Rainbow Song, is a stakes-placed daughter of the extremely successful sire Unbridled's Song.
Catching Freedom (25 points)
Catching Freedom, who won the aforementioned Smarty Jones Stakes and finished third in the Risen Star, has an advantage over most of the other horses on this list in that he has already won a race at Churchill Downs, the host track of the Kentucky Derby. A son of Constitution out of a mare by Pioneerofthe Nile, he comes, like Timberlake, from the barn of Brad Cox. He looks to Track Phantom again in the March 23 Grade II Louisiana Derby.
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