Leading up to horse racing\u2019s premier event; the Kentucky Derby this May, there are close to 60 prep races between the beginning of the year and the end of April that will not only shape this year\u2019s field, but give us a good idea which horses will go off as the favorite to win the Derby and possibly go on to earn the Triple Crown by winning the Preakness and the Belmont as well. Here is a brief re-cap of the key races from last weekend.<\/p>\n
The Lane\u2019s End Stakes- Saturday March 27th from Turfway Park<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lane\u2019s End Stakes is a grade II stakes race for three year olds with a total prize purse of $500,000. It is contested on dirt over a distance of 1 1\/8 mile. While everyone was expecting a battle between Derby contenders\u00a0Connemara <\/strong>and\u00a0Northern Giant<\/strong> in this race,\u00a0Dean\u2019s Kitten<\/strong> was able to outrun both of these horses down the stretch to win the Lane\u2019s End by 2 \u00bd lengths vaulting him into the top 10 of graded stakes earnings for three year olds by virtue of his $291,000 winning purse.<\/p>\n Northern Giant, who is trained by Wayne Lucas and ridden by Calvin Borel, rallied to take second while Todd Pletcher\u2019s Connemara finished third. Dean\u2019s Kitten is trained by Mike Maker and was ridden by Cornelio Velasquez. The Louisiana Derby- Saturday March 27th from Fair Grounds Racetrack & Casino<\/strong><\/p>\n The Louisiana Derby is a grade II stakes race for three year olds with a total prize purse of $750,000. It is contested on dirt over a distance of nine Furlongs. Trainer Todd Pletcher has a number of contenders for this year\u2019s Derby, but he may have just found one on Saturday that could be the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n Mission Impazible<\/strong>, who ran in fourth position for most of the race, used a late burst of speed down the stretch to get by the top three favorites to win the race by \u00be\u2019s of a length.\u00a0A Little Warm<\/strong> took second and\u00a0Drosselmeyer <\/strong>eked out third by a neck over\u00a0Discreetly Mine<\/strong>, who is also trained by Pletcher.<\/p>\n Mission Impazible came into this race with little fanfare as his previous best outing was a third place finish in the grade III Kentucky Juvenile Stakes last year as a two year old.<\/p>\n With his $450,000 winner\u2019s purse in this race, the gray\/roan colt moves into the top 10 of graded stakes earnings for three year olds, solidly in place for the Derby.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n