ITM Players’ Newsletter - April 11th, 2025
Kentucky Derby Monster Pods have arrived!
The Derby trail is essentially concluded, meaning it’s time to get prepped for the First Saturday in May! We’re already rolling over on YouTube with 7 mini episodes that will make up the Monster Pod covering each Kentucky Derby contender. You can check each of those out below with videos on top contenders like Journalism, Luxor Cafe, and Burnham Square.
There is one more official Derby prep, tomorrow’s Lexington Stakes. It may serve as more of a Preakness prep this year, but with plenty of high-ceiling runners entered it’s certainly a strong betting race and could produce players in the last two Triple Crown events. We’ve got both YouTube previews and written content on the race below, in addition to our usual Keeneland coverage on inthemoneypodcast.com and ITM Plus.
Our friends at The Hong Kong Racing Show and Off to the Races Media had a wonderful discussion with Umberto Rispoli, the rider of current Kentucky Derby favorite, Journalism. Check it out here!
MYWAYP,
PTF
Subscribe to ITM Plus for exclusive picks, written analysis, and shows from your favorite ITM contributors! Coming this weekend:
Laurel Park Saturday Late Pick Five - Mikee P & Will Humphrey
The Keeneland Journal - Eric DeCoster
Aqueduct Saturday & Sunday Notes - PTF
Exclusive Kentucky Derby content coming soon!
Make sure to save and follow the ITM blog for daily picks from your favorite tracks and more racing coverage:
Keeneland /// Aqueduct /// Gulfstream Park /// Oaklawn /// Santa Anita /// Laurel Park
Mikee P and Nick Tammaro break down the Late Pick 5 from Keeneland on Saturday, April 12. The sequence includes the G3 Lexington Stakes and the G1 Jenny Wiley.
Harness Players’ Podcast - 4/11/25 | Fraser Downs Late Pick 4
Ray Cotolo and Mike Pribozie of the Harness Players’ Podcast take a gander at harness racing action from Fraser Downs in Surrey, British Columbia for Friday night (April 11). The pair preview the Late Pick 4 sequence, which covers Races 6 through 9 on the Friday card.
Harness Players’ Podcast - 4/14/25 | MGM Borgata Series 3rd Leg
MGM Borgata Series action continues at Yonkers Raceway on Monday night (April 14) with the third of five $50,000 preliminaries for the series. Ray Cotolo and Mike Pribozie take a look at the four divisions slated for the Monday card.
$1 minimum and low 15% takeout. Retail only — No CAWs!
Lexington Stakes
The 2025 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland Race Course offers an exciting final opportunity for 3-year-olds to earn points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. This year’s edition features a competitive field of nine runners, including the talented favorite, Praetor, who seeks to extend his winning streak after an impressive allowance score at Gulfstream Park. Praetor, trained by Chad Brown, defeated the highly regarded Sovereignty last year and will be making his stakes debut under jockey Flavien Prat.
Road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby – The Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes – By Eric Solomon
This race was put on the map back in 1999 when Charismatic ran huge here two weeks before the Derby and then went on to score with big efforts in the Derby and the Preakness. It’s become a last chance kind of race for some horses to get enough points to put them over the top and gain entry into the Derby. However, it’s probably more of a possible Preakness Prep this year since eight of the nine runners in this race have 0 Derby Points so far, and 20 points isn’t likely going to cut it. Since so few Derby Horses run back in two weeks for the Preakness, this has become a good spot, five weeks away from that race, for a little bit of a late blooming three year old to strut their stuff. Post time for this Grade 3 contest is set for 5:16 PM (ET).
Mikee P and Nick Tammaro break down the last of the Kentucky Derby Points Prep races with the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland; Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Kentucky Derby Top 10
In this video, we dive into our highly anticipated final top 10 contenders for the 2025 Kentucky Derby. The lineup features a stellar cast of horses, all vying for a spot in history on the first Saturday in May. Among the standouts are Journalism, Sovereignty, and Luxor Cafe, each bringing their unique strengths to the Run for the Roses.
2025 Kentucky Derby Top 10 + Other Contenders
With final major preps completed the field is all but set for this year’s Kentucky Derby! Learn more about the final Top 10, other contenders, and horses on the outside looking in with key information including replay, last three Beyers, projected jockey, and more!
Mini-Monster Pods
Journalism
Luxor Cafe
Burnham Square
Coal Battle
American Promise
Flying Mohawk
Baeza
The official real-money handicapping tournament of the Kentucky Derby is the Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge by TwinSpires!
Players’ Podcast - 4/7, SOK Segment w Dale Romans/Michael Kares – Coppola in Shakertown
PTF and Nick Tammaro recap a huge weekend of Racing, including the Kentucky Derby Preps Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, UAE Derbies, and Graded Stakes around the racing world from this past weekend.
PTF then grabs Michael Kares of Sport of Kings Racing Partnerships with trainer Dale Romans to discuss Coppola in the Shakertown at Keeneland on Tuesday. They also discuss SOK partnerships, go to SOKracing.com for more information.
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the United States, often referred to simply as the Triple Crown, is a prestigious series of three races exclusively for three-year-old Thoroughbreds: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. This trio of races was established over several years, with the Kentucky Derby inaugurated last in 1875. A horse that triumphs in all three is awarded the official Triple Crown Trophy, first commissioned in 1950 and retroactively presented to earlier winners.
On the Lead - Horse Training and Technology
It wasn’t that long ago when even large horse training operations used clipboards and index cards to manage all the complexities of their operations. That’s all changed because of technology, which now allows training operations of all sizes, and the industry as a whole, to keep a much better handle on their affairs. In this episode of On the Lead, a joint venture between the Jockey Club and In the Money Media, Pete Fornatale and Shannon Kelly sit down with Tracy Attfield, the creator of TLore, and Maggie Sweet, former COO for Todd Pletcher and current Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, to talk all about how technology has changed and improved the lives of trainers everywhere.
