Just a Touch

8th-Keeneland, $130,000, Alw (NW2$X), Opt. Clm ($80,000), 4-19, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:50.34, ft, 7 lengths. JUST A TOUCH (c, 4, Justify--Touching Beauty {GSW, $183,166}, by Tapit) was runner-up in last year's GIII Gotham Stakes and this track's GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes and was as short as 11-1 for the GI Kentucky Derby. Very little went right on that occasion, but he bounced back to just miss in the July 6 Iowa Derby before going missing. The bay could not have been more impressive in bossing a first-level Fair Grounds...

With Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) already back galloping following his upset victory in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup--more on him shortly--trainer Brad Cox will be well-represented by a pair of older horses on Saturday that could make some noise of their own in the handicap division this year. Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense), a fantastic third while launching his 5-year-old season off the bench in the GIII Razorback H. Feb. 23, is the 2-1 program favorite in the $1.25-million GII Oaklawn H. in...

6th-Fair Grounds, $53,000, Alw, 3-1, (NW1X), 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:42.23, ft, 10 1/2 lengths. JUST A TOUCH (c, 4, Justify--Touching Beauty {GSW, $183,166}, by Tapit) was training 'exceptionally well' ahead of a pending return to action, Qatar Racing U.S. advisor Fergus Galvin told TDN Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack on Feb. 21, and those words proved more than prescient, as the 4-year-old colt galloped his rivals into the ground, suggesting the sky is the limit in the handicap division for 2025. Ridden forward from gate three, the bay colt had...

Just a Touch (Justify), a fantastic second behind subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in last spring's GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, is nearing a return to action. Last seen coming up just a head short for Qatar Racing, Resolute Racing and Marc Detampel in the Iowa Derby July 6, the 4-year-old has posted seven workouts at Brad Cox's Payson Park base this year, most recently breezing five furlongs in 1:01.80 (3/13) Feb. 15. "He's doing great," said Hunter Valley Farm's Fergus Galvin, who...

7th-GP, $94k, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 3:21p.m. ET A $500,000 KEESEP purchase by Repole Stables in 2023, ADVENTURIST (Curlin) goes to post here for Todd Pletcher with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons. Out of GIII Comely Stakes victress Touching Beauty (Tapit), the chestnut is a half-brother to GISP Just a Touch (Justify) and SP Corps of Discovery (Unbridled's Song). His dam is herself a half-sister to GSP Tritap (Tapit) as well as SW Noisy Feet (Tapit), in turn the mother of SW What Say Thee (Sea The Stars {Ire})....

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Weeks and months of preparation, with a healthy dose of good luck, are complete. A full field of 20 will line up for the 150th anniversary renewal of the GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Much of the pre-race hype has revolved around the defending juvenile champion Fierceness (City of Light). A runaway winner in the GI Florida Derby in his latest start, the 'TDN Rising Star' has been training like a beast, signaling he is ready to do big things come Derby day. His trainer, Todd...

Featuring $200-million worth of improvements in its new paddock area, Churchill Downs hosted the draw ceremony for next weekend's GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks during its opening night card Saturday. As usual, the proceedings drew some cheers, and jeers, from the crowd. Possibly numbered among the latter, the connections of the 5-2 morning line favorite 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) couldn't have been overly thrilled with drawing post 17 for Saturday's Run for the Roses. Campaigned by his breeder Mike Repole, the reigning juvenile champ comes...

GI Blue Grass S. winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) led a total of nine GI Kentucky Derby hopefuls on the work tab a week out from the Run for the Roses. Breezing in company with stablemate and fellow Derby hopeful Domestic Product (Practical Joke), the pair went five furlongs in 1:00.20 (15/58) through splits of :13, :24.80, :36.40 before galloping out in 1:13.20 and 1:26.20. "It [the work] was executed perfectly," said Chad Brown, the trainer for both workers. "I wanted them to a good five-eighths out in three-quarters but...

With Derby week just around the corner, the morning work tab under the Twin Spires was chock full of participants Wednesday, but one Derby entry went further than the others. Susumu Fujita's undefeated Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) worked six furlongs in 1:19.60 over a fast track. With jockey Ryusei Sakai aboard, the colt posted fractions of :14.80, :28.80, :42.60, :55.20, 1:19.60 and out seven furlongs in 1:33,60. He was joined for the last half-mile by Cuffed Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), an unraced 3-year-old for trainer Dale Romans. "Thanks...

With less than two weeks to the first weekend in May, a gaggle of contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks took to racetracks across the country for some critical breezes Saturday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has remained at Keeneland since his slashing victory in the Apr. 6 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and returned to the worktab for the first time on a chilly morning, breezing a half-mile in the company inside of recent Keeneland maiden winner White Palomino (Kitten's Joy) in...

He wasn't the most cooperative at the stalls and he left himself plenty to do over a Keeneland main track that was playing kind to speed over the course of the afternoon, but 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (c, 3, Gun Runner--Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon) saved his best for last and cemented his status as one of the top couple of contenders for the GI Kentucky Derby with a fast-finishing victory in the 100th running of the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. Saturday afternoon. The victory, on the back...

The GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland, featuring a highly anticipated rematch between Dornoch (Good Magic) and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), is one of three GI Kentucky Derby prep races on tap on a fantastic day of racing Saturday. Dornoch dug back gamely to defeat Sierra Leone in a heart-stopping renewal of the GII Remsen S. at a rain-soaked Aqueduct Dec. 2, then took care of business in a scratched-down GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Mar. 2. Sierra Leone, meanwhile, returned with an...