Grande scratched from the Kentucky Derby, field down to 19

The Kentucky Derby field is down to 19. This morning, Grande was scratched from the race due to a foot bruise. The news comes the day after Rodriguez, one of Bob Baffert’s horses, was scratched, also because of a foot bruise.

Grande, which is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole, was the runner-up in the Wood Memorial. He had 50-1 odds before the news broke. Baeza was added to the field following Rodriguez’s scratch on Thursday.

This is the latest bad bounce for Pletcher and Repole in the Run for the Roses. In 2023, Forte, the morning-line favorite, was scratched the morning of the race, also because of a foot bruise. Last year, the pair had the Derby favorite, Fierceness, who finished 15th. This marks the first year since 2003 that Pletcher will not have a horse in the Derby.

Repole, who has gained some fame for his part in the Netflix series Race for the Crown, shared his disappointment over Grande’s scratch in a lengthy post on social media.

“The heel has improved throughout the week and it also improved again this morning. Unfortunately the vets told us this morning they were scratching the horse despite the clean diagnostics. We were very confused with all the clean diagnostics and improvement all week, why they rushed to judgment to scratch today.

“With the race being tomorrow, and Baeza already having drawn into the race, we are also shocked and confused why this decision was made now. We were given no real explanation why Grande was scratched 36 hours before the race.”

Unfortunately, the vets have decided to scratch Grande from tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby.

He has been battling a slight cracked heel this week which has been improving. To be cautious, Todd X-rayed on Monday and the horse had clean X-rays. On Wednesday, the state vets asked us if…

— Repole Stable (@RepoleStable) May 2, 2025

More scratches could be on the way. Render Judgment, trained by last year’s winning trainer Kenny McPeek, has a quarter crack in its left front hoof. It’s receiving therapy and is considered probable for the race. For now, the field is set at 19.

Kentucky Derby 151 Odds

Post	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Odds
1	Citizen Bull	Bob Baffert	Martin Garcia	15-1
2	Neoequos	Saffie Joseph Jr.	Luis Saez	51-1
3	Final Gambit	Brad Cox	Luan Machado	16-1
4	Rodriguez	Bob Baffert	Mike Smith	SCR
5	American Promise	D. Wayne Lukas	Nik Juarez	12-1
6	Admire Daytona	Yukihiro Kato	Christophe Lemaire	38-1
7	Luxor Cafe	Noriyuki Hori	Joao Moreira	13-1
8	Journalism	Michael McCarthy	Umberto Rispoli	7-2
9	Burnham Square	Ian Wilkes	Brian Hernandez Jr.	17-1
10	Grande	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	SCR
11	Flying Mohawk	Whit Beckman	Joe Ramos	34-1
12	East Avenue	Brendan Walsh	Manny Franco	32-1
13	Publisher	Steve Asmussen	Irad Ortiz Jr.	28-1
14	Tiztastic	Steve Asmussen	Joel Rosario	18-1
15	Render Judgment	Kenny McPeek	Julien Leparoux	12-1
16	Coal Battle	Lonnie Briley	Juan Vargas	28-1
17	Sandman	Mark Casse	Jose Ortiz	5-1
18	Sovereignty	Bill Mott	Junior Alvarado	10-1
19	Chunk of Gold	Ethan West	Jareth Loveberry	30-1
20	Owen Almighty	Brian Lynch	Javier Castellano	40-1
21	Baeza	John Shirreffs	Flavien Prat	29-1

Which horse should you go with? Here are Nick Roush and Peter T. Fornatale’s picks. Get in the game with some help from our friends at NYRA Bets.

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