For those who like to toss around names and numbers – and in horse racing who doesn’t? — consider these Triple Crown nuggets:
Five of the nation’s most prominent trainers (Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert, Steve Asmussen, Chad Brown and Brad Cox) combined to nominate 37.4% of the 326 3-year-olds for the 2021 Triple Crown.
For those counting, Pletcher (as usual) led all trainers with 45 nominees, while Baffert trains 23 nominees, Asmussen 22, Chad Brown 18 and recent Eclipse Award winner Cox 14.
That totals 122 of the 326 nominees for the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 1, the Preakness (G1) on May 15 and the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 5.
For five trainers!
Pletcher is a two-time Derby and three-time Belmont winner, Baffert is a six-time Derby, seven-time Preakness winner, three-time Belmont winner and two-time Triple Crown winner.
Asmussen is a two-time Preakness and one-time Belmont winner; Brown has a Preakness win; and Cox is looking for his first win in a Triple Crown race – and has several Derby contenders this year, including Essential Quality, the unbeaten 2-year-old champion male set for his 3-year-old debut in the Southwest Stakes (G3) on Feb. 15.
A year ago, and before the COVID-19 pandemic altered the Triple Crown schedule, Pletcher, Asmussen and Baffert were the top three in nominations, totaling 66 of 347 (19%). Brown had eight, and Cox five, and altogether the five had 79 of 347 for 22.7%).
We’re not exactly sure what this will mean as the Derby approaches, but it’ll be worth watching since the Triple Crown usually is a long, treacherous road filled with potholes.
Enough with the trainers, and on to the horses.
Cox and Baffert currently have the leading Derby contenders that are Triple Crown-nominated: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Essential Quality and
Smarty Jones winner Caddo River for Cox; and Sham Stakes (G3) winner Life is Good; Robert B. Lewis (G3) winner Medina Spirit for Baffert.
The early nomination phase closed on Jan. 23, and the list of nominees was released on Thursday (Feb. 4) by Churchill Downs, home of the Derby.
Godolphin led all individual owners with 11 nominees, including Essential Quality. Brad Kelley’s famed Calumet Farm was next with 10 nominees.
Thirteen fillies were nominated, including 2-year-old champion Vequist, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Ashland (G1) winner Simply Ravishing. Five horses nominated are based in Japan.
The early nominations were 21 fewer than 2020, a dip of 6.1%. A total of 42 stakes winners were nominated. A $600 fee is charged for early nomination; it will cost $6,000 for the next nomination period that closes March 29; and any horse not nominated could become eligible with a supplemental payment — $200,000 for the Derby, $100,000 for the Preakness and $50,000 for the Belmont.
2021 Triple Crown Nominees
(18)Highestmaintenance (18)Rose to Gold (18)Vivo Per Lei (18)White Waves Affable Alain Barows (JPN) Alejandro All Bodes Well Amazing Rocket American Drama Amount Angkor Annex Arabian Prince Atlantic Road Avenue Aviano Awesome Gerry B C Glory Days Baltasar Beep Beep Behavin Myself Bennyfromthebronx Best Bet Bezos Big Fish Big Flame Big Lake Big Thorn Blue Boon Bobby Bo Bold Minister Bourbonic Bracken Breadman Brooklyn Strong By George Caddo River Call of Honor Camp Hope Candy Man Rocket Cantata Capo Kane Captain Fantastic Cardinal Bird Carillo Cash Rocket Cathkin Peak (IRE) Cazadero Chaos Reigns Chargeittothegame Circumvent Clairiere Classier Coastal Kid Collaborate Colonel Bowman Concert Tour Conquer the World Continental Coins Cool Rags Core Curriculum Count Tolstoy Country Captain Cowan Cronus Crowded Trade Danish Ekati Defeater Defunded Deservedly Devils Sky Dis Ones On Fire Do the Honors Dolder Grand Donegal Bay D’oro Forever Dr Ardito Dream Shake Dreamer’s Disease Du Jour Dupuis Dyn O Mite Dynamic One Earls Rock (IRE) El Socio Elector Eleven Central Emperor’s Cause Epic Run Essential Quality Everesting Exalted Charm Exalted Joy Excellent Timing Fairchild Federal Bureau Fenway Fighting Force Find New Roads Fire At Will Fire Sword First Task Fly Like an Eagle Following Sea Fortified Founder France Go de Ina Freedom Fighter Frozen Assets Full Charge Full Court Press Future Victory Gagetown Garoppolo Genomic Gershwin Get Her Number Ghazaaly Ghostliner Global Appeal Goddard Golden Spoke Golden Whim Greatest Honour Gretzky the Great Grey Storm Hachure Harbored Memories Harvard Hello Hot Rod He’s in Charge He’smyhoneybadger Hidden Stash High Yield Kitten Higher Quality Highly Motivated Hold the Salsa Hot Rod Charlie Houdini’s Awesome Hozier Hudson Ridge Hush of a Storm Hyperfocus I Am the Law Imperial Road Inspector Frost Inspiration Point Isolate It’s a Gamble Jackie’s Warrior Jasper Dream Jirafales Joe Man Joe Keepmeinmind Khafre Kinetic Sky King Fury Kingdom Warrior King’s Ovation Knopfler Known Agenda Koolhaus La Perouse (JPN) Lady Speightspeare Laker Mamba Lamutanaatty Laurel River Law Professor Leblon Lemon Pop Life Is Good Like the King Likeable Lucky Law (IRE) Magnificent Malathaat Mandaloun Masqueparade Medina Spirit Midnight Bourbon Millean Money Mike Moonlite Strike Mubtadaa Mucho Del Oro Mutasaabeq Mutasallem My Favorite Uncle Myopic Naco Naismith Never Surprised Newyearsblockparty Next Nicky the Vest Notable Exception Notary Nova Rags O Besos Ocean Ride One Fast Cat One Two Kid Ottothelegend Outadore Outasite Overtook Papetu Parnelli Partner’s Hope Patron d’Oro Pauline’s Pearl Perfect Cut Perfect Munnings Petruchio Pickin’ Time Prate Prevalence Primary Endpoint Prime Factor Prince Ziggy Private Network Promise Keeper Proxy Publicly Available Q B One Racarino Ram Ranger Fox Realm of Law Rebel’s Romance (IRE) Red Flag Regal Run Ricochet Ridin With Biden Rightandjust Risk Taking River Redemption Road Bible Rock Your World Roman Centurian Rombauer Rosenquist Royal Realm Royal Tryst Run Classic Runway Magic Saffa’s Day Sainthood Santa Cruiser Santos to Wilson Savile Row Scales of Justice Scarlet Fusion Scarred Senor Buscador Shackqueenking Shadow Matter Shaftesbury Simovitch Simply Ravishing Sir Ollie Sittin On Go Smiley Sobotka Son of Thunder Sososubtle Soup and Sandwich Souper Sensational Southern District Speaker’s Corner Speight’spercomete Speightstown Shirl Spielberg Spirit Maker Stage Raider Stainless Steel Star Sailor Starrininmydreams Stayin’ Out Late Super Stock Super Strong Swiftsure Swing Low Swingman Swot Analysis Taita Tallis Taraashoq Tarantino Tesoro Texas Royalty The Chosen Vron The Great One There Goes Harvard Tivoli Twirl Tiwanaku Tiz Tact Toe Too Boss Traveller Triple Tap Troubadour Tulsa Tornado Ubiquitous Ultimate Badger Unbridled d’Oro Unbridled Honor Unembellished Uno Untreated Value Creation Vanishing Point Vequist Warbird Warrant Warrior in Chief Waspirant Whiskey Double Whitaker Whole Shebang (JPN) Wildcat Nation Will E Sutton Winfromwithin Wipe the Slate Wolfie’s Dynaghost World Cruiser Zaajel
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