Good morning, friends, and happy Friday! It’s Kentucky Oaks Day in the Bluegrass, meaning thousands of pink-clad partiers will head to Churchill Downs for the 151st running of the “Lillies for the Fillies.”
Oaks used to be the locals’ day at the track, but now, it’s become almost as big as the Derby itself. This year, gymnast turned social media superstar Livvy Dunne is doing the Riders Up call ahead of the race. She won’t be the only celebrity in town. Dozens of stars are expected to arrive in time for the Barnstable Brown Kentucky Derby Eve Gala tonight. Simone Biles (who will do the Riders Up call ahead of the Derby), Machine Gun Kelly, Tracy Morgan, and Dierks Bentley are the some of the big names expected at the event, along with Aaron Rodgers and his crew (including Randall Cobb) and Barnstable Brown regulars Boyz II Men, Travis Tritt, and Joey Fatone.
But first, the races. The Longines Kentucky Oaks is the eleventh race of the day, with a post time of 5:51 p.m. ET. Good Cheer is the runaway favorite at 6-5 odds, undefeated in six starts. She’s trained by Brad Cox, ridden by Luis Saez, and will come out of the No. 11 post position. La Cara and Quietside are expected to be her biggest competition, but we’ll be cheering for Simply Joking, KSR’s horse through a partnership with Commonwealth. She’s fast, but can she handle the extra distance? We’ll certainly be cheering her on.
Kentucky Oaks Odds
| Post Position | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Morning Line Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Early On | Saffie Joseph Jr. | Edgard Zayas | 30-1 |
| 2 | Simply Joking | Whit Beckman | Florent Geroux | 10-1 |
| 3 | Fondly | Graham Motion | Irad Ortiz Jr. | 30-1 |
| 4 | Drexel Hill | Whit Beckman | Ben Curtis | 30-1 |
| 5 | Quickick | Thomas Amoss | Umberto Rispoli | 30-1 |
| 6 | Ballerina d’Oro | Chad Brown | Flavien Prat | 10-1 |
| 7 | La Cara | Mark Casse | Dylan Davis | 6-1 |
| 8 | Tenma | Bob Baffert | Juan Hernandez | 12-1 |
| 9 | Take Charge Milady | Kenny McPeek | Brian Hernandez Jr. | 12-1 |
| 10 | Good Cheer | Brad Cox | Luis Saez | 6-5 |
| 11 | Anna’s Promise | Carlos David | Junior Alvarado | 30-1 |
| 12 | Bless the Broken | William Walden | John Velazquez | 30-1 |
| 13 | Quietside | John Ortiz | Jose Ortiz | 8-1 |
The Oaks isn’t the only storyline today. Last year’s Oaks winner and Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna will race in the La Troienne Stakes, race number seven. It’s one of several Grade 1 races today, which Nick Roush previewed last night. Here’s the schedule:
Kentucky Oaks Day Race Schedule
- Race 1: 11:00 AM
- Race 2: 11:29 AM
- Race 3: 11:58 AM
- Race 4: 12:29 PM
- Race 5: 1:03 PM (The Edgewood)
- Race 6: 1:42 PM (Alysheba Stakes)
- Race 7: 2:23 PM (La Troienne Stakes)
- Race 8: 3:12 PM (Modesty Stakes)
- Race 9: 4:07 PM (Eight Belles)
- Race 10: 4:51 PM (Unbridled Sidney Stakes)
- Race 11: 5:51 PM (Longines Kentucky Oaks)
- Race 12: 6:27 PM
- Race 13: 7:02 PM
TV coverage starts at 1 p.m. on USA Network. You can also stream online at Peacock, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app.
Want some betting tips? Nick dropped his Oaks tip sheet on KSBoard this morning, and the Derby tip sheet is coming soon. It’s well worth a $1 trial if you haven’t already joined the party. NYRA Bets is also here to help with a special deal for KSR readers.
Sign up for the NYRA Bets Horse Racing app with promo code KSR25 to get an instant $25 Free Bet AND up to a $200 Deposit Match Bonus to bet the 151st Kentucky Derby! Bet it all now through May 3rd and get your bonus at nyrabets.com/KSR25.
Rain, Rain, STAY away
We could use a little help from Mother Nature today. The forecast looks good until this afternoon, when storms roll into the region. The best chance for scattered showers and storms is from 4-8 p.m. The main concerns with this line are damaging winds, lightning, and heavy rain. As mentioned, the Oaks is set to start at 5:51 p.m.
Tomorrow looks worse, unfortunately. An upper-level low will be stuck over Louisville, leading to occasional showers and a few storms. It won’t be a complete washout, but there will be periods of rain and otherwise overcast skies. Temperatures will also be cooler, in the 60s most of the day.
More Kentucky Derby scratches on the way?
We just got another Kentucky Derby scratch. Grande has been scratched from tomorrow’s race due to a foot bruise. The news comes about 14 hours after Rodriguez was scratched from the race, which paved the way for Baeza to join the field. More scratches could be on the way. Render Judgment, trained by last year’s winning trainer Kenny McPeek, has a quarter crack in its left front hoof. It’s receiving therapy and is considered probable for the race.
For now, the field is down to 19.
Kentucky Baseball at Mississippi State
Meanwhile, in Starkville, the Kentucky Baseball team is looking to get back in the win column after Tuesday’s loss at Western Kentucky. This weekend, they’ll face Mississippi State, which just fired its head coach earlier this week. The Bulldogs are 26-19 this season, 7-14 in the SEC (14th place). Nick Mingione, who spent eight seasons on Mississippi State’s staff before coming to Lexington, was mentioned as a potential candidate for the opening, so that’ll be a big storyline. Hopefully, he doesn’t enjoy his trip back to Dudy Noble Field too much.
Before stumbling in Bowling Green, Kentucky was on a roll, winning back-to-back series vs. Tennessee and South Carolina. With just three more SEC series (at Mississippi State, vs. Oklahoma, at Vanderbilt) left, the Cats need to regain their momentum to secure a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. As of now, they’re still projected to be a No. 2 seed.
First pitch tonight is set for 7 p.m. ET. The game will stream live on SEC Network+, or you can listen on the UK Sports Network (630 AM in Lexington). That’s the case for tomorrow’s game as well. Sunday’s game will be televised on SEC Network. Here’s the schedule, with starting pitcher assignments.
- Friday: 7 p.m. ET | SEC Network+ | RHP Nate Harris
- Saturday: 3 p.m. ET | SEC Network+ | RHP Nic McCay
- Sunday: 1 p.m. ET | SEC Network | LHP Ben Cleaver
Kentucky Softball at No. 5 Texas
The Kentucky Softball team is in Austin this weekend to face No. 5 Texas. The series didn’t get off to a great start for the Cats last night. Peyton Plotts hit her 15th home run of the season, but it wasn’t enough for the Cats to keep up with the Longhorns, who came away with a 9-1 victory in five innings. Six of those runs came in the third inning off three Kentucky errors.
This is the final series of the regular season, with the SEC Softball Tournament starting next Tuesday in Athens, Georgia. Game two has been moved up to Noon ET, 11 a.m. CT, to beat some bad weather headed Austin’s way. Game three is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.
ICYMI, Kentucky vs. St. John’s in the CBS Sports Classic
We got some big 2025-26 scheduling news on Tuesday. St. John’s is officially taking UCLA’s spot in the CBS Sports Classic, setting up a showdown with Kentucky in Atlanta on December 20. It’ll be the second time Mark Pope has coached against Rick Pitino, his former coach, the first being Pope’s first year at Utah Valley in 2015, and the first time since 2016 that Pitino has coached against Kentucky.
Fittingly, the game comes on the 30th anniversary of the 1995-96 team’s championship run.
Christmas in Catlanta
Thank you, @CBSSports Classic, for making this happen. pic.twitter.com/PpAePu1fG1
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) May 1, 2025
Need a Kentucky Basketball recruiting fix?
We know Mark Pope and his staff are on the hunt for one more guard or project player to round out the 2025-26 roster. It could be Miami transfer guard Divine Ugochukwu. Jacob Polacheck shared the latest on the recruitment and Kentucky’s efforts in the 2026 class on the latest episode of “Here Comes The Boom.” Take a look.
The NY Knicks are moving on in the NBA Playoffs
The New York Knicks are moving on to the next round. Jalen Brunson’s three in the final seconds gave the No. 3 seed Knicks the 116-113 win over the No. 6 seed Detroit Pistons in Game 6. Karl-Anthony Towns had 10 points and 15 rebounds in the win, but it was Brunson’s night to shine. He finished with 40 points, blowing a kiss to the crowd in Detroit after his final bucket with 4.3 seconds left. The Knicks will face Boston in the next round, with Game 1 set for Monday night.
In the Western Conference, the Nuggets had a chance to move on as well, but the Clippers forced a Game 7 with a 111-105 win in LA. James Harden had 28 points and 8 assists, and Kawhi Leonard added 27 points to push the Clippers past the Nuggets, who were led by Nikola Jokic with 25 points and Jamal Murray with 21. Game 7 takes place Saturday in Denver.
Tonight, there’s only one game, as the Houston Rockets face the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 in San Francisco (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). The series is tied 2-2.
TBT Presale begins: Give La Familia the ultimate Home Court Advantage
La Familia, Kentucky’s TBT alumni team, will host the Lexington Regional at Memorial Coliseum July 18-23. You can give the former Cats the ultimate homecourt advantage by buying your tickets in the presale when it starts at 10 a.m. ET.
There are eight regional sites/host teams. The first host team to sell 4,000 tickets in the presale will also get to host the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals no matter what. One of the other host teams? The Ville, Louisville’s alumni squad. If they beat La Familia to 4,000 tickets, they could host the rematch or last year’s quarterfinals in Louisville. We can’t have that. Also competing with La Familia and The Ville in the race to 4K:
- Lexington – La Familia
- Louisville – The Ville
- Indianapolis – Assembly Ball (IU) and All Good Dawgs (Butler)
- Kansas City – JHX Hoops (KU) and Purple Reign (K State)
- Wichita – AfterShocks
- Virginia – Embrace The Pace
- West Virginia – Best Virginia
- Syracuse – Boeheim’s Army
If multiple regions sell 4,000 tickets via pre-sale, the tiebreaker will go to the fanbase with the most tickets sold by May 6, the day tickets go on sale to the general public, at 11:59 PM ET. We got this, BBN. Sign up here to get an alert/link when the presale starts at 10 a.m. ET.
TBT Lexington Regional Ticket-Presale Info
Presale tix drop TOMORROW at 10AM ET
First site to 4K tickets = home court for every round
Let’s make sure it’s Memorial ColiseumSign up now for presale access:https://t.co/07RZyiKda8
2 new La Familia players drop Tuesday pic.twitter.com/hhd9Vu0S4S
— LaFamilia – Kentucky’s TBT Team (@LaFamiliaTBT) May 1, 2025
Name that Derby Horse!
I’ll leave you with a little game courtesy of Steven Peake. Put your Derby knowledge to the test by figuring out which horses are Derby winners and which are AI graphics. This can also serve as your daily reminder that AI is scary and about to take over the world.
KSR, live from Matt’s house in Louisville, starts in one hour, or you can get the party started earlier with Shannon the Dude and Billy on the KSR Preshow.
The post KSR Today: Keeping an eye on the sky on Kentucky Oaks Day appeared first on On3.