Get to know every trainer saddling a contender in the 2022 Kentucky Derby

The 2022 Kentucky Derby is fast approaching.

The final prep races took place in April at Keeneland with the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes and the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes, both of which produced some unexpected late contenders. The Road to the Kentucky Derby points qualifying leaderboard has been locked in place ever since.

After a week of preparation at Churchill Downs, we now know what the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field will look like.

Here’s a look at which trainers are expected to saddle horses for the 2022 Kentucky Derby, and how those trainers have historically fared in the race.

Trainers are listed alphabetically.

Steve Asmussen

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: Second with Nehro (2011) and Lookin At Lee (2017).

▪ Only four of Asmussen’s 23 all-time Kentucky Derby starters have finished in the money.

▪ Asmussen is the winningest Thoroughbred trainer in North American history.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Epicenter (post position No. 3)

▪ Morello, another Asmussen-trained horse, was inside the top 20 on the Kentucky Derby qualifying points leaderboard, but will not participate in the race because of a foot injury.

Chad Brown

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: Second with Good Magic (2018).

▪ Only one of Brown’s previous six Kentucky Derby starters has finished in the money.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Zandon (post No. 10)

▪ Zandon won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 9.

▪ Brown said Sunday that Early Voting (previously 15th on the Kentucky Derby qualifying points leaderboard) would skip the Derby and instead target the Preakness Stakes.

Brad Cox

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: Mandaloun (2021).

▪ Cox is the first and only Louisville-born trainer to have a horse win the Kentucky Derby.

▪ Both of Cox’s previous two Derby starters (Mandaloun and Essential Quality) finished in the money during the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Cyberknife (post No. 16), Tawny Port (post No. 18), Zozos (post No. 19).

▪ Tawny Port won the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes in April at Keeneland, the final Kentucky Derby prep race.

Saffie Joseph Jr.

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: Eighth.

▪ This year marks Joseph’s second trip to the Kentucky Derby. He also brought Ny Traffic to the September 2020 race that was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: White Abarrio (post No. 15).

Brian Lynch

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None. This will be the first Kentucky Derby for Lynch, a native of Australia.

▪ The 57-year-old Lynch will be making his Derby debut with Classic Causeway, who won the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby before plummeting in his most recent race, the Florida Derby, in which he finished last.

▪ Lynch is a former bull rider in his native Australia.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Classic Causeway (post No. 17).

Kenny McPeek

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: Second with Tejano Run in 1995.

▪ Only one of McPeek’s previous six Derby horses finished in the money.

▪ A Lexington native, this is McPeek’s first year with a horse in the Kentucky Derby since 2013, when he had two.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Tiz the Bomb (post No. 9), Smile Happy (post No. 5).

Doug O’Neill

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: I’ll Have Another (2012), Nyquist (2016).

▪ O’Neill has had a horse finish in the money three times from his seven career Kentucky Derby starters.

▪ One of O’Neill’s slated Derby horses for 2022, Slow Down Andy, was pulled from the Derby after developing a fever in mid-April at Keeneland.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Happy Jack (post No. 2).

John Alexander Ortiz

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None. This year will be Ortiz’s Kentucky Derby debut.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Barber Road (post No. 14).

▪ Barber Road has finished in the money in seven of his eight career races, including a runner-up finish to Brad Cox’s Cyberknife in the Arkansas Derby in April.

Todd Pletcher

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: Super Saver (2010), Always Dreaming (2017).

▪ Eight of Pletcher’s 59 all-time Kentucky Derby starters have finished in the money.

▪ Pletcher had gone 0-24 at the Derby dating back to his race debut in 2000 (when he had four horses) before winning the race in 2010 for the first time.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Mo Donegal (post No. 1), Charge It (post No. 8), Pioneer of Medina (post No. 11).

Eric Reed

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None. Reed will make his Kentucky Derby debut this year with Rich Strike.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Rich Strike (post No. 20).

▪ Rich Strike only made the Derby field after Ethereal Road — trained by D. Wayne Lukas — was scratched.

Antonio Sano

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: Seventh.

▪ Sano’s only previous Derby horse was Gunnevera in 2017.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Simplification (post No. 13).

Bhupat Seemar

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None, Seemar will be making his Kentucky Derby debut in 2022.

▪ Seemar’s uncle, Satish Seemar, had his training license suspended, and Satish gave control of his former horses to Bhupat, who was his assistant in the Zabeel Stables, which is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Summer Is Tomorrow (post No. 4).

Koichi Shintani

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None, this year will be Shintani’s Kentucky Derby debut.

▪ From Japan, Crown Pride won the UAE Derby in March in Dubai by 2 3/4 lengths.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Crown Pride (post No. 7).

Tim Yakteen

▪ Past Kentucky Derby winners: None.

▪ Best Kentucky Derby finish: None, Yakteen will be making his Kentucky Derby debut as the trainer of record in 2022.

▪ Yakteen rose up the ranks as an assistant trainer for Bob Baffert, as Yakteen won three Kentucky Derby titles as an assistant to Baffert.

▪ Several horses that were formerly trained by Baffert were transferred to Yakteen and Rodolphe Brisset as Baffert began his suspension for Medina Spirit’s drug violation in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, which took the Derby title away from the horse and Baffert.

▪ 2022 Kentucky Derby horses: Taiba (post No. 12), Messier (post No. 6).

▪ Taiba and Messier finished first and second in the Santa Anita Derby in early April.

This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 6:20 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription