3 minute read

Saturday's Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, for all its complications, put two horses in the top 10 on the leaderboard for Kentucky Derby 2024.

The winner, Domestic Product , got 50 points, which put him in third place with 60 total points. The Practical Joke colt trained by Chad Brown picked up 10 points last month with his second-place finish in the Holy Bull (G3).

No More Time , who finished second by a neck, earned 25 points for his effort and moved to no. 7 in the standings with 45 points. The son of Not This Time also got 20 points with his win in the Sam F. Davis (G3) for trainer Jose Francisco D'Angelo.

The points preps take a break this weekend, but then things get much more interesting. The following three weekends bring eight races that offer 100-50-25-15-10 points to the top five finishers. A first- or second-place finish virtually assures a spot in the Kentucky Derby, but those lesser amounts can be key too.

Those 100-point races start March 23 with the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park and the Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds. March 30 brings the UAE Derby (G2), Florida Derby (G1) and Arkansas Derby (G1). On April 6, the Wood Memorial (G2), Blue Grass (G1) and Santa Anita Derby (G1) offer 100 points to the winners, if eligible. And then the points preps wrap up April 13 with the Lexington (G3), which offers 20-10-6-4-2 points.