It’s all conjecture at this point. Trying to predict what will happen at Churchill Downs Saturday in the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby. As WEKU’S Stu Johnson reports, some of the focus of Thursday’s Lexington Rotary Club meeting went beyond this weekend’s race.
As tradition has it, the Thursday before the Kentucky Derby finds the president of Keeneland at the Rotary Club podium. So it was for Bill Thomason.
After a review on the just completed spring meet at Keeneland, the attention turned to the main event in Louisville. One question for Thomason centered on favorite ‘Justify’, a Bob Baffert horse. The successful trainer has been quoted as saying what he sees in Justifies exceeds Triple Crown Winner American Pharaoh at the same point in his racing career. Thomason couldn’t resist thinking about the impact of another Triple Crown winner. “We get that lull in the business. It’s kind of hard to keep that energy up during the summer for various other races. So, when you’ve got a Triple Crown winner, and just like what happened here, that was absolute and total magic, the thing we call the Grand Slam. To be able to have the Triple Crown winner, who comes to our home,” noted Thomason.
American Pharaoh topped off a great year, winning the Breeders Cup at Keeneland in 2015. The speculation about another possible Triple Crown achievement will once again begin late Saturday afternoon.
