Kentucky Derby 2024 Horse West Saratoga Trainer, Owner, Jockey, Record

West Saratoga

Color: Grey/roan

Bred in: Kentucky

Father: exaggerator

Dam: Mo Wicked, by Uncle Mo

Price tag: $11,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale

Owner: Harry Veruchi, first derby

Trainer: Larry Demeritte, first derby

Jockey: Jesus Castanon, 0 for 1 in the derby. In 2011 he finished fourth with Shackleford.

Record: 2-5-1 in 10 starts

Career Earnings: $460,140

Path to Kentucky Derby Points: 67 (No. 6)

Last race: Second in Class 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 23rd at Turfway Park, 4 lengths behind Endlessly.

Running style: stalker

Remarks: Demeritte was only the second African-American trainer to compete in the Kentucky Derby since 1951. The last was Hank Allen, who finished sixth with Northern Wolf in 1989. … With 10 races under his belt, West Saratoga is very experienced. The first five of these were his first special weights as he sought his first win, which finally came on August 5th at Ellis Park. The next month at Churchill Downs, West Saratoga won the Grade 3 Iroquois, the first race to award points on the Kentucky Derby Trail. … West Saratoga was one of the final 20 horses sold on the final day of the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

What you say: “I have a thing for champagne on a beer budget,” said Demeritte, a Bahamas native who got his coaching license in the U.S. in 1991.

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; [email protected]. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.

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