Reagan's Honor Targets Blue Grass Upset With Derby Points on the Line

Paladin's condylar fracture re-drew the entire Blue Grass Stakes map before the race has even been run. The undefeated Gun Runner colt, favored in the last two Churchill Downs future wager pools, is off the Triple Crown trail after trainer Chad Brown confirmed the injury was detected March 28 following a workout at Payson Park in Florida. Paladin had been pointing toward the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 4, and his exit re-priced everything around him. Nobody benefited more immediately than Reagan's Honor.

Cherie DeVaux's Honor A.P. colt arrives at the Blue Grass as the second choice on the morning line at 5-2, behind Brad Cox's Further Ado at 8-5, carrying zero accumulated Derby points but the best speed figures in the field. His 96 Beyer Speed Figure in his last race is the best last-race Beyer in the field. That figure came from a Feb. 19 allowance romp at Fair Grounds, where Reagan's Honor romped by 6 3/4 lengths, defeating older horses and producing both the co-best Equibase Speed Figure (105) and top Beyer Speed Figure (96) in the Blue Grass field. The performance sent Reagan's Honor's futures odds plunging from 150-1 to 40-1 in a single afternoon and put Keeneland firmly on the agenda.

The path to Saturday was methodical. After a December debut at Fair Grounds and a two-turn maiden victory in January, Reagan's Honor turned in his fourth breeze since that dominating allowance victory, working a half-mile in :48 flat at Keeneland on March 28. "He had worked here before (last spring) and it was an easy work for him, steady throughout and he galloped out well," DeVaux said. DeVaux, who separately described the colt as having "really put on a lot of condition," showed full confidence in his readiness to step into Grade 1 competition. Jose Ortiz, who won the 2018 Toyota Blue Grass on Good Magic, has the call on Reagan's Honor from post four.

The points arithmetic makes Saturday a near-binary proposition for DeVaux's connections. The Toyota Blue Grass offers 200 points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the first- through fifth-place finishers toward the Kentucky Derby. Win Saturday and Reagan's Honor collects 100 points, effectively guaranteeing a Churchill Downs gate slot. Finish second and the 50-point haul should be sufficient for qualification. Third place pays 25 points, which could prove adequate depending on how the remaining prep calendar resolves, but leaves connections gambling on late attrition elsewhere. Fourth (15 points) or fifth (10 points) likely ends the Derby conversation entirely. With no banked points whatsoever, there is no margin for a quiet finish.

Class President, the Rebel Stakes winner trained by Todd Pletcher who had been listed at 3-1 on the morning line, was scratched from the field. That departure thinned an already manageable draw and handed Reagan's Honor more room to operate. The remaining field is anchored by Further Ado, a Kentucky Jockey Club winner who ran second in the Tampa Bay Derby in his first start of 2026 and will need to move forward from that result. Their pace-versus-close dynamic over Keeneland's 1 1/8-mile main track will largely frame the outcome.

DeVaux also has Golden Tempo on the Derby trail with 60 points already secured, giving the barn a separate insurance policy en route to Louisville. Reagan's Honor's ceiling is demonstrably higher, and his class test Saturday is genuine; he has never competed in graded stakes company. What he has done is beat older horses at a fast clip, work sharply over this track, and arrive at exactly the moment when the Blue Grass lost its most dangerous entrant.