In the Money Media

Kentucky Derby 152 · Road to Churchill Downs

Daily to Derby

Your morning briefing on the road to the Kentucky Derby

Edition No. 15 · Friday, April 24, 2026

🇯🇵 International Contenders

What Speed Figure Did Danon Bourbon Run on the Beyer Scale?

On our latest Monster Pod, Alex Henry — ITM's Japanese racing specialist — broke down Danon Bourbon's Fukuryu Stakes performance using proprietary Netkeiba speed figure conversions. The number: a 97 on the Beyer-equivalent scale.

That's the fastest Fukuryu Stakes in the last 20 years, by over a full second — on a muddy track. For context: T O Password ran an 83-84 from the same race and finished fifth in the 2024 Derby. Luxor Cafe ran a 95. Danon Bourbon is meaningfully faster than both.

He has tactical speed, a Maxfield-over-Tapit pedigree that screams Churchill Downs, and a 3-for-3 record with a combined winning margin of 18½ lengths. He might get beat. But it won't be the distance that beats him.

👉 Watch the Danon Bourbon Monster Pod with Alex Henry
👉 Watch the Wonder Dean + Six Speed Monster Pod with Michael Adolphson

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📣 Industry

The Trainers Want to Move the Preakness

Three top Derby trainers came out in favor of changing the Triple Crown schedule at yesterday's NTRA teleconference.

"I'm all for moving it. The health and the welfare of the horse comes first over tradition." — Brad Cox

Cox added: "You could run a horse back on quick rest and get a really good effort. The question is, what do you have after the quick turnaround?"

"I would predict it is gonna change, certainly before my career is over." — Chad Brown

"Tradition is tradition, but we live in a different world." — Mark Glatt

This comes days after CDI acquired the Preakness IP for $85 million. Now that one company owns two of the three legs, the schedule might actually be moveable for the first time.

👉 Full story at TDN

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🎰 Wagering

Preakness Future Wager Is Live

Opens today, closes Derby Day. Renegade is the 10-1 morning line favorite. Iron Honor 15-1. Commandment 15-1. Further Ado 12-1. Full video breakdown coming soon on the ITM YouTube channel.

👉 Full field and odds at preakness.com/futurewager

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👉 Watch our Churchill Opening Day preview

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🏇 Barn Notes

Renegade Ships to Churchill Today

Easy half in :50.84 at Palm Beach Downs yesterday. Pure maintenance. Vans to Churchill today, arrives just before Saturday's deadline. Same approach Pletcher used with Super Saver.

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📊 ITM Original

Pletcher's Derby Horses Either Show Up or They Don't

New figure data from Paul Matties: of Pletcher's 14 short-priced starters, the five who ran their number all finished in the top three. The other nine regressed by an average of more than 20 points. Almost no middle ground.

👉 Read the full article with 66-horse appendix

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🎙️ New on ITM YouTube

Three New Monster Pods

👉 Danon Bourbon with Alex Henry — Netkeiba figure conversion + Maxfield pedigree angle

👉 Wonder Dean + Six Speed with Michael Adolphson — UAE Derby analysis

👉 KDBC Preview Show — $300K guaranteed purse, tournament strategy

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📄 Free Content

Free Derby Contender Profiles — 14 Live

Renegade · Commandment · Further Ado · The Puma · Chief Wallabee · So Happy · Silent Tactic · Emerging Market · Fulleffort · Potente · Incredibolt · Albus · Pavlovian · Chip Honcho

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🎧 Partner Content

PTF on the Equibase Inside Track

Ben Kudla and PTF sit down for a horse-by-horse GPS data analysis of the Derby field. Which contenders stand out by the stride numbers?

👉 Watch on the Equibase YouTube channel

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📣 Derby Week Events

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📋 ICYMI

👉 Yesterday's D2D: "Bet the Preakness Before the Derby"

👉 Is Todd Pletcher Actually Bad in the Kentucky Derby?

👉 Derby OddsWatch

👉 Free Bris Derby PPs (PDF)

👉 Free Equibase PPs for every contender

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