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Although the buzz going into Saturdayā€™s $600,000 Belmont Oaks (G1) was all about Godolphin raider Abashiri, it was the other European shipper, the 23-1 Kensington Lane, who bossed the 1 1/8-mile feature on the front end at Saratoga. Trained by Donnacha Oā€™Brien, whose A Boy Named Susie finished second to father Aidanā€™s star Constitution River in the Eclipse (G1) earlier Saturday, Kensington Lane was coming off a fifth in the Irish 1,000 Guineas (G1).

Sovereignty wins the 2025 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. (Photo by Coglianese Photo) The buildup to the $2 million Stephen Foster (G1) at Churchill Downs on Saturday has lasted for more than a month. And now it's nearly time for the horses to do the figurative talking. The one bettors expect to be heard from most is reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty, last year's Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and three-year-old champion. Although beaten in his comeback race on April 18, the Oaklawn H.

For a time in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Oaklawn H. (G2) was so well positioned on the calendar that it routinely attracted marquee champions and elite older horses from both coasts. However, the frequency of this occurrence dropped considerably after the advent of the Dubai World Cup (G1) and again with the creation of the Saudi Cup (G1). Not this year. In what figures to be the most anticipated renewal of the $1.25 million feature in decades, the Oaklawn H.

With the qualifying races now complete, points tabulated, and the leaderboard finalized, the prospective field for the 2026 Kentucky Derby (G1) is coming into sharper focus. The top 20 are guaranteed a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs on May 2. Those just below the cutoff, the horses on “the bubble,” will need defections in order to move up in the standings. Of the top 20, 17 are the leading points earners on the main Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Saturday’s $398,750 Lexington (G3) featured an eclectic cast of class-climbers, fringe players from the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail, and minor stakes veterans. An overlooked member of the latter category, Trendsetter, jumped up at odds of 32-1 to score a new career high. Trained by Ben Colebrook, who won Keeneland’s premier race for three-year-old fillies, the Ashland (G1), with Percy’s Bar on opening day, Trendsetter is not nominated to the Triple Crown.

Trainer Brendan Walsh had to scratch morning-line favorite Lush Lips from Saturday’s $581,713 Jenny Wiley (G1), but his other entrant, Expensive Queen, saved the day at Keeneland. Squeezing through on the inside for Luis Saez, she got up on the wire to force a dead-heat with Chad Brown’s favored Segesta. Segesta gave Brown a record-extending eighth win in the Jenny Wiley.