These are high holy days in Kentucky, the cradle of American horse racing.

The $5 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs is the most important contest on the racing calendar, the one trainers from around the world point their best 3-year-olds toward. Many runners fail to accrue enough points in a months-long series of prep races to earn a spot in the field, and among those in the starting gate, there can only be one winner, of course.

Here at The Banner, and in newsrooms across the country, plenty of us in the media are amused to see a colt named Journalism as the 3-1 favorite.

Before he gets the chance to file his best story on deadline (sorry, I couldn’t help myself), there will be more than a dozen elite stakes races on Friday and Saturday, including the Kentucky Oaks today, which is the Derby equivalent for fillies.

It’s in those races where you will see a couple Maryland-breds and some locally based trainers competing in fields stacked with talent for some of the richest purses in the sport.

Here’s whom you should keep an eye on.

Gimme a Nother

H. Graham Motion, seen in 2024 at his stables at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland, trains Gimme a Nother and several other horses you'll see on this list.

Race details: Friday, 3:12 p.m. post time, Race 8, Grade 3 Modesty Stakes, 1 1/8 miles on the turf, fillies and mares 4 years old and upward, $400,000

Morning line odds: 7-2

Bio: A member of a group of South African-breds in the barn of Maryland-based trainer H. Graham Motion, Gimme a Nother was a perfect 7-for-7 at Turffontein outside Johannesburg during 2023-24, with five of those wins coming in graded-stakes company.

In 2025: In her first race this year, and first effort in the U.S., the 5-year-old mare came in second in the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, finishing 3/4 of a length behind even-money favorite Saffron Moon.

Gimme a Nother made a late charge in that race, which was contested at the same distance as the Modesty, and should benefit from a step down in class. But she will have to face Saffron Moon again.

Fondly

Race details: Friday, 5:51 p.m. post time, Race 11, Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, 1 1/8 miles on the dirt, 3-year-old fillies, $1.5 million

Morning line odds: 20-1

Bio: The daughter of Upstart out of Lifetime Memory sold for the relatively modest price of $50,000 to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners in October 2023. She did not run as a 2-year-old.

In 2025: The lightly raced filly has done everything that’s been asked of her, winning twice in two tries for Motion. A hard-fought 1 1/2-length victory in the Virginia Oaks in March gave her 50 points toward a spot in the starting gate of the Oaks.

While jumping up to a Grade 1 race is certainly a tall task, it’s noteworthy that Fondly’s rider in the Virginia Oaks, Irad Ortiz Jr., is sticking with her in Louisville. Ortiz is one of the best jockeys in the country and would have his pick of mounts.

New King

Brittany Russell has been the leading trainer in Maryland for two straight years. She started training New King earlier this year.

Race details: Saturday, 12:38 p.m. post time, Race 4, Knicks Go Overnight Stakes, 1 mile on the dirt, 4-year-olds and upward which have never won a graded sweepstakes, $200,000

Morning line odds: 12-1

Bio: Bred in Maryland by Matt Dorman, who operates under the truly incredible name Determined Stud, New King started his racing career in California in the barn of Bob Baffert. It took him three tries to break his maiden, which he accomplished in his second race as a 3-year-old.

In 2025: It’s already been a busy year for the colt by Into Mischief out of Hollywood Royal. He ran fourth in a $61,000 allowance optional claiming race in January at Santa Anita, then won a similar race there in February.

After Baffert moved the colt up to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, resulting in seventh-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile race, New King‘s owners brought him to the barn of Maryland trainer Brittany Russell, the back-to-back winner of the state’s annual training title.

In April, she ran the colt in the Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes at Laurel Park, where he put up a big effort in the mud but finished second.

New King is tougher to figure out than some of the other runners in this story, and he’ll be facing some stiff competition in a 14-horse field. That said, you can’t count out a Maryland-bred in a race named for the great Old Line State champion Knicks Go.

Five Towns

Five Towns competes in the Grade 3 Gallorette Stakes on Preakness Day in May 2024.

Race details: Saturday, 1:12 p.m. post time, Race 5, Grade 2 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes, 1 mile on the turf, fillies and mares 4 years old and upward, $750,000

Morning line odds: 10-1

Bio: Loyal readers of The Baltimore Banner may remember this 5-year-old mare from my series “How to train a racehorse,” in which Motion let us follow one of his trainees in the lead-up to a race on Preakness Stakes day at Pimlico.

Spoiler alert: She finished second in the Grade 3 Gallorette Stakes at Old Hilltop. (It’s much better to experience the journey through the series, which you can do by reading Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.)

Following the Gallorette, Five Towns finished third in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine in August and second in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel Stakes at Belmont Park in September.

In 2025: Five Towns is still looking for her first trip back to the winner’s circle since taking the Dahlia Stakes at Laurel Park in April 2024. Her only race this year was the Sand Spring Stakes at Gulfstream Park, where she came in second, three lengths behind Movin’ On Up.

Optimistic backers of hers will note that she posted the best Equibase Speed Figure of her career and could take another step forward after the long layoff.

Mindframe

Mindframe (10), with Irad Ortiz Jr. up, finishes second in the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes in 2024.

Race details: Saturday, 3:23 p.m. post time, Race 8, Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes, seven furlongs on the dirt, 4-year-olds and upward, $1 million

Morning line odds: 3-1

Bio: The uber-talented Maryland-bred colt (by Constitution out of Walk of Stars) caught the attention of the thoroughbred world when he won his first two races by a combined 21 1/4 lengths. Owners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables entered him in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes last year, giving the colt the chance to become the first Maryland-bred winner of a Triple Crown race since Caveat won the Belmont in 1983.

Alas, Mindframe settled for second to Dornoch, though he might have won had he not drifted out wide coming down the stretch. He ran one other time in 2024 and once again was bested by Dornoch in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park.

In 2025: After months away from the track, Mindframe returned in March to win the one-mile Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Stakes as the 1-9 favorite. He’s cutting back in distance here and is a worthy first-choice.

Sadly, breeder R. Larry Johnson — whom I interviewed in the lead-up to last year’s Belmont Stakes — died earlier this year and is no longer around to revel in the accomplishments of one of the best horses he ever produced.

Test Score

Race details: Saturday, 4:06 p.m. post time, Race 9, Grade 1 American Turf Stakes, 1 1/16 miles on the turf, 3-year-olds, $1 million

Morning line odds: 10-1

Bio: As a 2-year-old, this colt ran with some classy company at Saratoga in summer 2024 but did not break his maiden until an October race at Keeneland. The Motion trainee closed the year with a second-place finish in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar in November.

In 2025: The colt finished an underwhelming third as the favorite in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes at Gulfstream Park in February, then backed it up with an absolute monster effort to win the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland in April, his first stakes win. He’ll look to build on that here.

Doubters, beware: Motion and owners Amerman Racing teamed up in 2024 to win this race with Trikari, who went off at 47-1.

Tiny Lake

Race details: Saturday, 8 p.m. post time, Race 13, allowance optional claiming, 3-year-olds which have never won a race other than maiden, claiming or starter, 6 1/2 furlongs on the dirt, $127,000

Morning line odds: 30-1

Bio: You’ve made it this far into Derby Day. Why not stick around after the main event? Repole Stable thought enough of Tiny Lake’s pedigree to spend $200,000 on him as a yearling in 2023. In his only time out as a 2-year-old, a maiden claiming race for Russell in November 2024, he finished dead last.

In 2025: It’s already been an eventful year for Tiny Lake, with multiple owner and trainer changes. And it’s been a much more successful one. He’s run six times, winning three races and finishing second in the other three — first for Maryland trainer Kieron Magee in the silks of owner John J. Reilly, then for Maryland trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon in the silks of High Schticking Thoroughbreds.

This is by far the richest race of the gelding’s career, and the stronger field makes him a significant long shot. But he came on late in his last race, a victory in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance optional claiming race at Laurel, and should benefit from the extra distance.