Road to the Kentucky Derby Schedule Announced

The $500,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) Dec. 20 at Los Alamitos Race Course has been added to the list of races that comprise the 2014-15 "Road to the Kentucky Derby."

The series of 35 select races—19 "Prep Season" races, and 16 "Championship Series" races—is used to determine which horses qualify to the 141st running of the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) May 2, 2015 at Churchill Downs, if more than 20 horses are entered.

The 1 1/16-mile Los Alamitos Futurity, a race formerly known as the Hollywood (1981-2006) and CashCall (2007-13) Futurity at the now-shuttered Hollywood Park, will be run for the first time at Los Alamitos Race Course, home base of  2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome. The race produced six Kentucky Derby winners during its run at Hollywood Park.

"The robust commitments by the team at Los Alamitos suggest a strong desire to be included in our series, and we're confident the race is likely to attract aspiring and compelling Derby prospects," said Churchill Downs racetrack president Kevin Flanery. "We're delighted to welcome the Los Alamitos Futurity to the Kentucky Derby 'Prep Season'."

Points awarded to the top four finishers in the Los Alamitos Futurity will be 10-4-2-1 as part of the "Prep Season" that showcases foundation-building races over a minimum of one mile between September and mid-February. It commences Sept. 6 at the home of the Derby with the $100,000 Iroquois (gr. III) at 1 1/16 miles.

The 16 events that comprise the "Kentucky Derby Championship Series" during the 10-week run-up to the first Saturday in May remain unchanged from a year ago.

This is the third consecutive year Churchill Downs will use a sliding scale of points awarded to the top four finishers in choice races to determine preference for its 20-horse Derby field. At least 20 horses have entered the 1 1/4-mile classic for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds every year since 2004, and in 14 of the past 16 years.

In the first two years of the point system, the horses that topped the leaderboard with 150 points each won the  Derby: Stuart S. Janney III and Phipps Stable's Orb   in 2013 and Steve Coburn and Perry Martin's California Chrome in 2014.

A similar series remains in place to qualify for the Derby's sister race, the $1 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) for 3-year-old fillies May 1, 2015.

The lone change to the 31-race "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" series is the addition of the $350,000 Starlet Stakes (gr. I), a 1 1/16-mile "Prep Season" race scheduled for Dec. 13 at Los Alamitos. Like the Futurity, the Starlet also had been previously run at Hollywood Park.