Before Ted Noffey was sidelined with bone bruising earlier this spring, Spendthrift Farm appeared to have the favorite to win the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs.
Maybe it still does—or if not, one of the supporting favorites—in Further Ado, who scored an emphatic 11-length victory April 4 in the $1,237,813 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. His margin of victory was the largest in the historic race since Sinister Minister prevailed by 12 3/4 lengths 20 years earlier.
Just as he had in a 20-length maiden romp at the Lexington oval last fall, Further Ado skipped over the Keeneland main track, gliding effortlessly under Irad Ortiz Jr. Fifth early in the 1 1/8-mile race, as John Battaglia Memorial Stakes winner Great White shot to the lead with fractions of :23.60 and :47.71, Further Ado advanced easily up to third on the backstretch, and took over with a three-wide advance to the lead coming into the stretch. Then, with Ortiz merely hand riding and showing his riding crop to Further Ado, the chestnut Gun Runner colt opened up, lengthening his lead all the way to the finish.
Ottinho, a half brother to Gun Runner by Quality Road , rallied for second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Talkin in third. Creole Chrome was fourth and Great White fifth.
But the seven-horse race was essentially a one-horse contest, particularly when second favorite Reagan's Honor regressed in his first stakes attempt, fading to sixth, and after losing two of the race's anticipated headliners—Paladin and Class President. Paladin was not entered after being injured last week, and Class President was scratched after not training satisfactorily.
The Brad Cox-trained Further Ado was timed in 1:49.58, the fastest time in the Blue Grass since dual champion and fellow Cox trainee Essential Quality sped the distance in 1:48.50 in 2021. Further Ado paid $3.70 as the heavy favorite.
"I wish they'd run the Derby here," Cox quipped on NBC.
Further Ado is a winner at Churchill Downs as well, having won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) there last fall, though in more workmanlike fashion than in his runaway Keeneland victories. He took the Kentucky Jockey Club by 1 3/4 lengths.
"He's obviously trained there a good bit and is obviously 1-for-1 over there," said Cox, who stables his best horses at Churchill Downs from much of the spring through fall. "He's put us in a great position. He's a great colt and I'm excited and proud of what he was able to accomplish today."
That accomplishment—a grade 1 victory, accomplished in front of prominent breeders in Kentucky—essentially earns Further Ado a place in the Spendthrift Farm stallion barn when his racing career is over.
"And that's really the goal of the operation," said Ned Toffey, general manager and chief operating officer at Spendthrift Farm.
Toffey acknowledged that the past six months have been a roller coaster ride of emotions, first with Ted Noffey's highlights, followed by the disappointment of his physical setback and a last-out second-place finish from Further Ado in the March 7 Tampa Bay Derby (G3), followed again by yet another high in the Blue Grass. And the Derby is yet to come.
The Blue Grass distributed Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the race's top five finishers. Churchill Downs officials use qualifying points as a preference system when the Derby attracts more than its capacity field size of 20 horses.
With the win, Further Ado now has 135 points for the Kentucky Derby. Ottinho has a total of 56, also leaving him well positioned to earn a starting berth if his connections wish to run him, though his trainer, Chad Brown, has through the years kept some horses in his barn to await the Preakness Stakes (G1), the second leg of the Triple Crown. Other Blue Grass competitors may not have enough to qualify.
Whether Ortiz will be along for the Derby ride on Further Ado is to be determined. The five-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey, never better than fourth in nine rides in the Derby, is also the regular jockey of the Todd Pletcher-trained Renegade, who won the Arkansas Derby (G1) by 4 lengths March 28.
Ortiz said he would leave his choice of Derby mount to his agent, Steve Rushing. Most riders and their agents prefer to wait closer to the entries to make a firm decision. That can then give them an alternative if a planned mount cannot start because of a setback.
"I'm just happy to go to the Derby with a few good horses," Ortiz said of rides to consider.
Added Toffey, "We love Irad, but I'm pretty sure there will be a couple of very competent riders who would be more than willing to slide right in there if Irad wants to go with Renegade."
Twenty-three winners of the Blue Grass have gone on to have success in the Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, but none have been victorious since Street Sense captured the 2007 Derby after finishing second in the Blue Grass a month earlier. Sierra Leone , winner of the 2024 Blue Grass, came close in the Derby that year running second, beaten a nose, to Mystik Dan in the three-horse photo finish with Japanese star Forever Young in the show position.
Further Ado, bred in Kentucky by John Oxley out of the grade 3-placed Sky Mesa mare Sky Dreamer was a $550,000 purchase by Spendthrift Farm from the Six K's Training & Sales consignment to the 2025 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
One of North America's top sires, Gun Runner stands for $250,000 at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.
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