Meet the contenders, see the odds for the 2026 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland
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- The 2026 Spring Meet at Keeneland is highlighted by the $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes.
- The Blue Grass will be run Saturday evening at Keeneland as part of an 11-race card.
- Further Ado, trained by Brad Cox, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Blue Grass.
By Saturday night, a new top contender for the Kentucky Derby will have emerged following Keeneland’s opening weekend.
The Lexington track’s annual Spring Meet begins Friday. The early action at Keeneland is highlighted by the 102nd running of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, a key prep race on the road to the Derby.
The Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass has a field of seven horses and a post time of 6:22 p.m. Saturday. The race — which covers 11/8 miles on Keeneland’s main track — will award Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale.
Normally, finishing either first or second in the Blue Grass is enough to secure a starting spot in the Derby. The 152nd edition of the Run for the Roses is May 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
There’s plenty of precedent when it comes to the Blue Grass preparing horses for the Derby. A total of 10 horses — Shut Out (1942), Tomy Lee (1959), Chateaugay (1963), Northern Dancer (1964), Lucky Debonair (1965), Forward Pass (1968), Dust Commander (1970), Riva Ridge (1972), Spectacular Bid (1979) and Strike the Gold (1991) — have won both the Blue Grass and the Kentucky Derby.
A total of 19 horses that ran in the Blue Grass at Keeneland have gone on to win the Derby. Strike the Gold was also the last runner from the Blue Grass to win the Run for the Roses.
In 2025, four of the seven horses that ran in the Blue Grass went on to compete in the Kentucky Derby. Of these, Owen Almighty performed the best. After a sixth-place effort in the Blue Grass, Owen Almighty rallied for a fifth-place finish in the Derby. Burnham Square followed up his 2025 Blue Grass victory with a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
This year’s early favorite in the Blue Grass is Further Ado. The Brad Cox trainee is the morning-line favorite for the race, but there should be some stiff competition.
Ahead of Saturday’s Blue Grass at Keeneland, here’s what you need to know about the field.
Further Ado is the favorite for 2026 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland
Further Ado — the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Blue Grass — is already on the cusp of qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.
The horse already has 35 Derby qualifying points after winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in November at Churchill Downs and finishing second in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby in March at Tampa Bay Downs.
Further Ado’s first career win came in October in a maiden special weight race at Keeneland. That win came by a spectacular 20 lengths. Further Ado was given post 6 for the Blue Grass.
Cox, Further Ado’s trainer, already has one win in the Blue Grass, with Essential Quality in 2021. That horse went on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby before later winning the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes.
The second choice on the morning line for the Blue Grass is Reagan’s Honor, who holds early 5-2 odds. Trained by Cherie DeVaux, the horse has won two straight races at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. But, Reagan’s Honor has yet to run in a graded stakes race and doesn’t have any qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby.
“What we’re really wanting is the horses to continue to improve,” said DeVaux, who already has a likely Kentucky Derby starter this year with Golden Tempo. “And they have to do that to be their best on Derby day.”
Reagan’s Honor — named for DeVaux’s stepdaughter, Reagan Ingordo — was assigned post 4 in the Blue Grass. Ingordo’s grandfather is the late John Shirreffs, who conditioned 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner filly Zenyatta.
Creole Chrome — the fourth choice on the morning line at 8-1 odds — has won three of his four career starts and has a jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, who won the Blue Grass in 2024 aboard Sierra Leone.
Trainer Joe Sharp described Creole Chrome, who was drawn into post 5, as “a very tactical horse.”
“When I first got this horse, we didn’t know what his distance limitations would be,” Sharp said. “Last time, he kind of answered some questions about the two turns. But obviously he needs to step forward in two turns against tougher company, and that’s what Saturday will tell.”
Talkin — with 12-1 odds on the morning line — got off to a strong start in stakes action with a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in October. But he’s stumbled since then. Talkin’s last two efforts have been a ninth-place finish in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes and a fifth-place run in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby.
The Danny Gargan trainee has 10 qualifying points toward the Derby and will need to improve in the Blue Grass to make the Derby starting gate. Talkin will start the Blue Grass closest to the rail in post 1.
Great White — a 15-1 choice on the morning line — already has 20 Derby qualifying points following a win in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes in February at Turfway Park. All three career races for the gray or roan gelding have come on the synthetic surface at Turfway in Florence.
“I can tell, every race he’s going to step forward,” said Great White’s jockey, Alex Achard. “He gets (more) mature every race. That’s a good thing. He only has three races under his belt, but he’s getting there, slowly.”
Great White was drawn into post 3 for the Blue Grass.
The two other horses in the Blue Grass field can all be classified as long shots: Ottinho (20-1 on the morning line) and Moonstrocity (30-1).
All three of Ottinho’s race have come at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. He’s won one of those three efforts. Ottinho has post 9 for the Blue Grass, the furthest outside starting spot.
Moonstrocity has also yet to find his form, finishing eighth and third in a pair of maiden special weight races at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Moonstrocity is trained by Jena Antonucci, who became the first woman to train a Triple Crown race winner with Arcangelo in 2023. The horse has post 8 for the Blue Grass.
The Blue Grass was originally set to have a nine-horse field, but there were two defections this week.
The most significant, Class President, was scratched from the Blue Grass on Thursday.
Class President was set to be the most accomplished horse in the Blue Grass field, in terms of Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The Todd Pletcher trainee is already in the projected Derby field with 50 points after a win in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes in early March at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
Class President had been the third choice on the morning line for the Blue Grass with 3-1 odds. Pletcher told the Daily Racing Form that Class President isn’t off the Derby trail, yet. Class President had been assigned post 2 in the Blue Grass.
Ocelli — a longshot who was 30-1 on the morning line — was cross-entered in both the Blue Grass and Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Ocelli, who has yet to win in five career starts, will be running in the Wood Memorial. He was set to leave from post 7 in the Blue Grass.
The Blue Grass is one of three major Kentucky Derby prep races taking place Saturday.
Also being contested are the Grade 1, $500,000 Santa Anita Derby in California and the Wood Memorial. Each race also is a 200-point Derby qualifier that offer points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the top-five finishers.
The final qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby is the Grade 3, $400,000 Stonestreet Lexington, to be held April 11 at Keeneland.
