Tom Law

Driving down Versailles Road past Keeneland Race Course in his small horse van on a warm spring morning, his son riding in the back with two mares headed to the breeding shed, Alfred Nuckols Jr. commented on how difficult it was to get a horse from the farm to the racetrack and how little the general public knew about the task.

Nuckols didn’t say it in a sanctimonious way, far from it, but in a general acknowledging sort of way.

Last year we rolled out what we called the Preakness Preview Bucket, a collection of the best work coming from the Maryland Jockey Club’s publicity staff in advance of the second jewel of the Triple Crown. We’re bringing it back this year as Nyquist gears up for the Preakness and in advance of our team hitting the ground in Baltimore later this week. First up is Sandy McKee’s look back at Hansel, dominating winner of the 1991 Preakness, and a roundup of Monday’s activity for each member of the 2016 field.

Ah, the weekend between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Time to rest up, count that bankroll or lick the wounds, and binge on the best steeplechase meeting of the spring down in Nashville. A slightly reconfigured stakes schedule in New York brings a big afternoon of racing to Belmont Park and we’ve got that and more covered in this week’s Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud, home of Alternation, Broken Vow and Cowboy Cal.

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the new book “Bare Knuckles & Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John Morrissey” by Brien Bouyea, communications officer at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Published by The History Press, the book is available nationwide at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Historypress.com and in store at numerous locations throughout Saratoga Springs, including the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Lyrical Ballad, Barnes and Noble, Northshire Bookstore and Impressions of Saratoga.

Trainer Jorge Navarro has enjoyed a recent run of success with stakes-winning sprinters Private Zone and X Y Jet, who were the conditioner’s first and only graded stakes winners entering last weekend’s Kentucky Derby Day card at Churchill Downs. Navarro’s count of graded stakes winners doubled Saturday in Louisville as Sharp Azteca captured the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile and Catalina Red won the Grade 2 Churchill Downs.

Taris came into Simon Callaghan’s care in late 2014 with a big price tag and big expectations.

Among those in the winner’s circle celebrating with owner Robert Masterson after his champion Tepin recorded her sixth consecutive victory during the Kentucky Derby undercard Saturday at Churchill Downs was Craig Bandoroff, a longtime friend and business partner of Masterson and the owner of Denali Stud in Paris, Ky. where Masterson keeps his horses.

Doug O’Neill had five weeks between the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby and a weighty decision to make with Paul Reddam’s undefeated champion Nyquist.

The choices seemed fairly simple and predictable, either ship the colt back to his Southern California base at Santa Anita Park or send him to Louisville early to train at Churchill Downs in preparation for the biggest test of his young life in America’s most prestigious race.

O’Neill could zig, or zag. He did neither.

The so-called doubters never showed up, sending Nyquist to the post as the 2-1 favorite despite 19 challengers, and the lingering doubts about the undefeated champion’s abilities and his lack of speed when it comes to numbers on paper were wrong as he won Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

After suffering her first loss in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes a month ago, Cathryn Sophia bounced back in a big way with a powerful victory in the Longines Kentucky Oaks in front of a record Oaks Day crowd of 124,589 Friday at Churchill Downs.