Stewart Elliott returns to Derby, son Christopher makes debut aboard Right to Party

Stewart Elliott’s biggest Kentucky Derby memory is no longer just his own. Twenty-two years after guiding Smarty Jones to victory in the 130th running at Churchill Downs on May 1, 2004, Elliott is heading back to the Derby with a new family storyline attached: his son, Christopher, will make his debut in the race aboard Right to Party.

That alone gives this year’s Derby one of its sharpest angles. Christopher Elliott, born April 19, 2006, is the youngest jockey in the starting gate, and he is arriving not as a ceremonial name but as a rider with a growing record. He got his first win on April 21, 2024, at Lone Star on Ru Mor Starter, and later added his first stakes victory on Reclusive in the Regret Stakes at Monmouth Park. The path has been quick, but it has not been casual.

Right to Party made sure of that. The chestnut colt, born April 20, 2023, entered the Kentucky Derby trail with 70 qualifying points and sat 12th on the leaderboard, safely inside the top 17 needed to reach the starting gate. Trained by Kenny McPeek for owner Chester Broman Sr., the colt carried $230,200 in career earnings into the race and earned his spot through a steady climb: third in a maiden special weight at Aqueduct on Dec. 13, 2025, a one-mile maiden win there on Jan. 10, 2026, third in the Gotham Stakes (G3), then a breakthrough second in the Wood Memorial (G2) on April 4 at Aqueduct.

That Wood Memorial mattered because it was a $750,000 Grade 2 at 1 1/8 miles, and Right to Party was 38-1 when he closed from far back to grab 50 Derby points. It was the kind of run that changes a horse’s profile and a rider’s assignment at the same time.

For Stewart Elliott, the emotional math is simple. He is returning to the same stage where he made his name, but this time he will be watching from the sidelines as his son takes a seat in the gate. For Christopher Elliott, the assignment is bigger than family legacy. It is a legitimate Derby mount earned through results, in a field full of veterans, on the sport’s biggest weekend. That is how a surname becomes a storyline, and how a longshot becomes part of the race.