A number of competitors for the 150th running of the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) held routine training sessions at Churchill Downs on April 14. These included UAE Derby (G2) winner Forever Young, who made his first appearance over the track after arriving early on Saturday morning, and Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up Honor Marie, who completed a half-mile in :48.80.
Owned by Ribble Farms, Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver, Kenneth and Dave Fishbein, and trained by Whit Beckman, Honor Marie collaborated with jockey Ben Curtis in the saddle with stablemate Anthem King. The first eight-mile splits for the pair were 12.40 and 24.80, respectively, with ease. Honor Marie passed the wire with a little advantage over his colleague, charging through five furlongs in 1:02.
"He did it the right way, easily," Beckman said. "We didn't want to do a ton this week and he seemed to do it well. He's the type of horse that will always do what you ask of him. I always thought it was good to have a workmate next to him to just give him a little encouragement."
Sunday morning's normal training sessions for other Kentucky Derby candidates included Track Phantom, the runner-up in the G2 division of Risen Star, Dornoch, the winner of Fountain of Youth, and Society Man, the runner-up in the G2 division of Wood Memorial.
While many Derby hopefuls had a busy day on the track on Sunday, the four horses Catching Freedom, Endlessly, Mystik Dan, and Common Defense had a typical walk day after their publicly released workouts on April 13.
Trainer Ian Wilkes stated on Saturday that Into Champagne, who was third in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) to earn a spot in the Kentucky Oaks, may aim for the G2 Kentucky Oaks or the $600,000 Eight Belles (G2), which is scheduled for May 3 at seven furlongs.
Just Steel, the runner-up in the Arkansas Derby (G1), is anticipated to get his first workout on the Churchill Downs course on Monday morning after winning the Ed Brown Stakes in November. On Saturday morning, the D. Wayne Lukas trainee showed up at Churchill Downs.