KENTUCKY — This week’s special edition of In Focus Kentucky is broadcasting from Churchill Downs in the city of Louisville, as the Commonwealth once again is on display for the 150th running of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby coming up on Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4.
The Post Position Draw for the 150th running of the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks and the $5 million Kentucky Derby were held on the new Paddock Terrace, Saturday, April 27, which was Opening Night for the spring meet at Churchill Downs.
Fierceness was named the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the upcoming 150th Kentucky Derby and will look to make history in next Saturday’s milestone race as the first entrant to win in 45 attempts from the No. 17 post position.
The Todd Pletcher-trained colt enters the 1 1/4-mile opening leg of the Triple Crown races on May 4 off a dominating 13 1/2-length win in last month’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and has a third-place finish as a 3-year-old. If Fierceness were able to score the win, it give the Hall of Fame trainer his third Derby win and first since 2017 with Always Dreaming.
Sierra Leone, whose 155 points led the Derby qualifying trail, drew the No. 2 post as the 3-1 second choice for the $5 million Grade I premier race for 3-year-olds.
Catching Freedom is the 8-1 third Derby choice from the No. 14 post and will aim to give Cox his first outright Derby victory after Mandaloun was elevated to 2021 Derby winner following the disqualification of deceased colt Medina Spirit for a failed postrace drug test. Cox’s other entries, Just a Touch and Encino, drew the Nos. 8 and 9 posts respectively and were listed at 10-1 and 20-1 odds.
Japan-bred entries T O Password and Forever Young will start alongside each other from the Nos. 10 and 11 posts respectively with odds of 30-1 and 10-1.
Also, Brad Cox-trained filly Tarifa is the 7-2 morning line favorite for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks after drawing the No. 8 post.
Kaitlin Free, reporter and analyst for Churchill Downs, joins this In Focus Kentucky segment to talk about some of the contenders to keep an eye on as we march closer to the first Saturday in May.
You can watch the full ‘In Focus Kentucky’ segment in the player above.