Hansen: Looking Forward To The 2012 Kentucky Derby

Three-year-old Kentucky foaled thoroughbred, Hansen, is a contender for this year’s Kentucky Derby. He was foaled out of Stormy Sunday and sired by Tapit . The horse is owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen (from Kentucky), with a partial interest in the horse belonging to Sky Chai Racing. World famous trainer Mike Maker is responsible for pushing this fast colt to the top of his game, and if you follow the path back in the breeding of this beautiful gray horse, you can find such former Derby greats and Triple Crown winners as Secretariat and Seattle Slew. That’s quite a blood line!

Hansen, as a two-year old, was raced only three times. In those three races, Hansen was able to show why he is one of the favorites to race in the 2012 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in May. His first race was at Turfway Park in a 5 ½ furlong maiden. He easily took this race, as his jockey, Victor Lebron, took him right to the front out of the gate. Hansen never looked back, as he left the field well behind him, cruising to a 13 length victory. Just two weeks later, Hansen was back on the track, as a heavy favorite at Turfway to run for the Kentucky Juvenile Cup. This race would stretch out Hansen as he was moving up from 5 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 mile. He would once again romp, this time by 12 lengths. It was obvious that Hansen was ready for a step up in competition against some other Derby hopefuls.

His final race of 2012 would be his biggest. Hansen was in a field with the tremendous Union Rags and another up and comer, Creative Cause. For the first time, he would be jockeyed by Ramon Dominguez, one of racing’s best riders. As in his previous two races, Hansen broke out of the gate fast and took the lead. He wasn’t able to pull away from the pack however, and had to battle a charging Union Rags to take the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakesat Churchill Downs by a head, and set himself up to be one of the most talked about horses in the thoroughbred industry.

Overall, 2011 was a tremendous year for Dr. Kendall Hansen and his star thoroughbred. He won all three of his races, including the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile Stakes, and went on to win the Eclipse Award for two-year old male of the year, by a wide margin. There is no doubt that Hansen is one to watch as the Kentucky Derby gets closer. UPDATE: Hansen has ran two races in 2012. He stumbled out of the gate at the Holy Bull Stakes and faltered late, finishing 2nd to Algorithms. He won the Gotham Stakes, at Aqueduct, in impressive fashion. He finished three lengths in front of My Adonis and showed growing maturity.

If you are interested in going to the Kentucky Derby and seeing the best three-year olds in racing, the tickets get tougher and tougher to come by as we draw closer to May. You can find out about purchasing tickets through the Churchill Downs official Kentucky Derby web site or you can visit a Kentuckiana based ticket provider that specializes in tickets and ticker packages to bigger races, such as the Oaks, Breeders Cup, and the Derby itself.