Kentucky Derby

Rosie Napravnik is a goal-oriented girl. After her first pony race at the age of seven, she decided she wanted to be a jockey. Done. Check. At the age of sixteen, she decided she wanted to be the first girl to win the Triple Crown. Pending. Now at the age of twenty-three, her first opportunity on the road to that goal is tomorrow, the first Saturday in May, 2011, at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby. Napravnik is riding Pants On Fire, the horse she rode to the wire in the Louisiana Derby on March 23. In that race she bested two other well-regarded Derby entrants, Nehro and Mucho Macho Man. Those who profess to know these things tell us that Dialed In is the favorite in this year’s Derby. Uncle Mo, a horse thought by some to have the potential to win the Triple Crown has been scratched from the Derby due to a gastrointestinal problem. For sure, Rosie Napravnik has proven herself. In her career debut at age seventeen, she brought home a winner. By the end of her apprentice jockey year she had three hundred wins, earning nearly $6.5 million. This season, she was the leading jockey at The Fairgrounds in Louisiana. Napravnik will be the sixth female to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Napravnik is a hard worker. She attributes her discipline to growing up on the family farm in New Jersy and doing farm chores from the time she can remember. Her mother was a show rider. “She’s one tough cookie,” said John Parisella, a trainer. “She’s a killer!” “I don’t take any crap from the guys,” she admits. Posted May 7, 2011Updated May 8, 2011

Uncle Mo, a 1-10 favorite in the Wood Memorial, stunned the crowd at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 9 by getting passed in the stretch by two horses. The previously unbeaten three-year-old finished third to the disappointment of many in the racing world who hoped for a super horse to spark the upcoming Triple Crown season. Uncle Mo’s defeat stands as one of the biggest upsets in the eighty-seven-year-old Grade 1 race. “The horse didn’t fire today,” said owner Mike Repole. The Kentucky Derby picture became instantly fuzzy. The 1-1/4 mile Derby distance looms huge in light of  Uncle Mo’s stretch loss to two relatively undistinguished horses. For more details, see Tom Pedulla’s article in USA Today.

Uncle Mo is being touted as the horse to beat in the upcoming Kentucky Derby on May 7. In fact, the undefeated two-year-old champion that ran away with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by more than four lengths is renewing serious talk of a potential Triple Crown winner this year, an accomplishment not seen since Affirmed’s sweep in 1978. The pundits will surely be watching as Uncle Mo makes his three-year-old debut this Saturday, March 12, in the Timely Writer Stakes at Gulfstream. So will his owner, Mike Repole, 42, who has the distinction of having a second horse—Stay Thirsty—in the Derby by virtue of that horse’s win in the Gotham Grade III race at Aqueduct last Saturday, March 5. Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty are both trained by Todd Pletcher, who has another Derby entry, Brethren. Posted March 8, 2011 All previously published FHL News reports are available by clicking on News/News.