Kentucky Derby Contenders Arrive at Churchill Downs

Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up Improbable, along with third-place finisher Country House and sixth-place finisher Long Range Toddy, arrived at Churchill Downs the morning of April 15 following a flight from Oaklawn Park. 

The colts, who finished behind Omaha Beach in their final tune-up for the 145th running of the $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) May 4 at Churchill, stepped off the Brook Ledge Horse Transportation van and walked to their nearby barns shortly after 10 a.m. EDT. Also on the flight was the mare Elate, who finished third in Sunday's Apple Blossom Stakes (G1) and, along with Country House, is trained by Bill Mott.

Improbable, the first of trainer Bob Baffert's potential trio of Derby starters to arrive in Barn 33, is 11th on the final Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard after earning 40 points in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile test. He races for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight Racing and earned a total of 65 points on the Derby trail.

Country House, a stablemate of leading points earner Tacitus in Mott's Barn 19, has 50 points and sits at 17th on the points list. He is owned by Maury Shields, E. J. M. McFadden Jr., and LNJ Foxwoods. The top 19 on the points list earn a spot in the starting gate for the Run for the Roses, with an additional spot carved out for Master Fencer from the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Willis Horton Racing's homebred Long Range Toddy also made his reappearance at Churchill Monday morning for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The winner of a division of the Rebel Stakes (G2) will be stabled in Barn 38.

Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach, the Arkansas Derby winner trained by Richard Mandella, is vanning to Louisville, and is expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon at Barn 28 between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m., according to Steve Hargrave, Stable Area senior director. 

Imperial Racing's Plus Que Parfait, who stamped himself in the Kentucky Derby starting gate with a narrow victory in the UAE Derby Sponsored By Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2), is likely to return to the work tab this weekend, according to trainer Brendan Walsh.

Plus Que Parfait, which translates to "more than perfect" in French, spent more than a week in Europe prior to his April 11 return to Churchill's Barn 9.

"I think the extra eight or nine days over in Europe helped him," Walsh said. "I think that allowed him to relax a little bit after the race and gather himself before flying to America. He settled in really nicely at Churchill and I'll probably work him towards the end of the week depending on the weather. He's a happy horse right now."

Plus Que Parfait was the runner-up in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) as a 2-year-old but began his 3-year-old campaign with a fifth-place finish in the Lecomte Stakes (G3) and a 13th-place effort in the Risen Star Stakes presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) before winning the UAE Derby.