The Road to the Kentucky Derby Points Update - March 25

Las Vegas, NV - The Road to the Kentucky Derby ended another chapter this past weekend with the close of the first part of the Championship Series in which 50-20-10-5 points were given out to the first through fourth place finishers. The Grade 3 Spiral Stakes went down at Turfway Park on Saturday and the Sunland Derby took place Sunday.

This coming weekend things get a little more interesting when the second part of the Championship Series starts handing out 100-40-20-10 points for the first through fourth place finishers in the qualifying races. It all kicks off Saturday with three huge races around the world - the $1 million Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, the $1 million Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream and the $2 million Grade 2 United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan.

Let's update the current standings after the two races that were contested this past weekend.

Kelly Breen's Black Onyx and Bob Baffert's Govenor Charlie were the latest colts to put themselves on the Derby radar with wins in the Spiral Stakes and the Sunland Derby respectively this past weekend. Mark Casse's Uncaptured gained 20 more points and now sits in the top 10 in the standings on the heels of a second place finish in the Spiral and Giant Finish got on the board with 20 points after a second place finish in the Sunland.

D. Wayne Lukas's Will Take Charge still leads the standings after his win last weekend in the Rebel Stakes. He is alone atop with 60 points with a glut of colts sitting with 50. They include the two winners of this past weekend's race Govenor Charlie and Black Onyx as well as Vyjak, Shug McGaughey's Orb, Todd Pletcher's Verrazano and Jerry Hollendorfer's Hear the Ghost. Oxbow sits alone in eighth with 36 points after his second place finish last weekend in the Rebel. Rounding out the top 10 are Uncaptured, after a second place finish in this past weekend's Spiral Stakes and Bob Baffert's Flashback - they each have 30 points thus far.

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Doug O'Neill's Goldencents in next with 29 points while Todd Pletcher trained Shanghai Bobby, who will race this weekend, is in twelfth with 24 points. Java's War is next with 22 points and a nice group of four colts occupy fourteenth to seventeenth place in the standings - two Bob Baffert trainees Den's Legacy, and Code West and two John Terranova pupils Falling Sky and West Hills Giant have 20 points apiece after this past weekend`s racing.

Next in eighteenth place is Mark Casse trained Dynamic Sky with 13 points and Speak Logistics is alone in nineteenth place with 11 points. After that is a cluster of nine colts with 10 points each - all are currently on the bubble from twentieth to twenty-eighth place in the standings. They include Eddie Plesa trained colt Itsmyluckyday, four Todd Pletcher pupils - Overanalyze, Revolutionary, Abraham off a third this past weekend and Palace Malice, a pair of Bob Baffert trainees - Super Ninety Nine and Power Broker, Kiaran McLaughlin trained Elnaawi and finally Paul Aguirre`s Tiz a Minister.

Texas Bling is in twenty-ninth with nine points, Siete de Oros has seven points, He`s Had Enough and Fear the Kitten have six and Bob Baffert`s Shakin It Up has five along with Tesseron and Capo Bastone. They all have some work to do in order to vault themselves into the top 20 and towards a guaranteed start in the Kentucky Derby.

As mentioned there is a trio of huge races this upcoming weekend. 100-40-20-10 points will be handed out in the $1 million Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, the $1 million Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream and the $2 million Grade 2 United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan. The standing will remain fluid as can be - stay tuned right here to OffTrackBetting.com for race previews and frequent Points Updates as they unfold before the Run for the Rose in May.