Life is Good continued to follow in the path of stablemate Authentic on the road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby with a win the Sham Stakes on Saturday.
The Bob Baffert trainee is one of several 3-year-olds making their first appearance on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard after picking up points in the Sham and the Jerome.
Eleven races into the 36-race calendar, here's a look at the races so far and the next several on the calendar, with this past weekend's races in bold type.
Road to the Kentucky Derby - After 11 races
| Date | Race | Track | Distance | 1st-4th (points) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/5 | Iroquois | CD | 1 mile | Sittin On Go (10), Midnight Bourbon (4), Super Stock (2), Therideofalifetime (1) |
| 9/26 | American Pharoah | SA | 1 1/16 miles | Get Her Number (10), Rombauer (4), Spielberg (2), Waspirant (1) |
| 10/3 | Breeders' Futurity | Kee | 1 1/16 miles | Essential Quality (10), Keepmeinmind (4), Super Stock (2), Upstriker (1) |
| 10/10 | Champagne | Bel | 1 mile | Jackie's Warrior (10), Reinvestment Risk (4), Midnight Bourbon (2), Civil War (1) |
| 11/6 | Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Kee | 1 1/16 miles | Essential Quality (20), Hot Rod Charlie (8), Keepmeinmind (4), Jackie's Warrior (2) |
| 11/28 | Kentucky Jockey Club | CD | 1 1/16 miles | Keepmeinmind (10), Smiley Sobotka (4), Arabian Prince (2), Swill (1) |
| 12/5 | Remsen | AQU | 1 1/8 miles | Brooklyn Strong (10), Ten for Ten (4), Known Agenda (2), Pickin' Time (1) |
| 12/18 | Springboard Mile | RP | 1 mile | Senor Buscador (0), Cowan (4), Red N Wild (0), Saffa's Day (0) |
| 12/19 | Los Alamitos Futurity | LRC | 1 1/16 miles | Spielberg (10), The Great One (4), Petruchio (2), Red Flag (1) |
| 1/1 | Jerome | AQU | 1 mile | Capo Kane (10), Eagle Orb (4), Hold the Salsa (2) |
| 1/2 | Sham | SA | 1 mile | Life Is Good (10), Medina Spirit (4), Parnelli (2) |
| 1/16 | Lecomte | FG | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/22 | Smarty Jones | OP | 1 mile | |
| 1/30 | Holy Bull | GP | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/30 | Robert B. Lewis | SA | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 1/30 | Withers | AQU | 1 1/16 miles | |
| 2/6 | Sam F. Davis | Tam | 1 1/16 miles |
Note: Senor Buscador (1st), Red N Wild (3rd) and Saffa’s Day (4th) did not accrue points in the Dec. 18 Springboard Mile because they competed with Lasix on race day.
Essential Quality, winner of the Breeders' Futurity and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, remains at the top of the points list with 30 points. He also is the early favorite, at 8-1, in Las Vegas Derby futures.
Here are the points totals, with horses who earned points this past weekend in bold.
Road to the Kentucky Derby - Points leaders
| Rank | Horse | Pts | Trainer | Stakes earnings* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essential Quality | 30 | Brad Cox | $1,280,000 |
| 2 | Keepmeinmind | 18 | Robertino Diodoro | $379,040 |
| 3 | Jackie's Warrior | 12 | Steve Asmussen | $457,500 |
| 4 | Spielberg | 12 | Bob Baffert | $206,000 |
| 5 | Get Her Number | 10 | Peter Miller | $186,000 |
| 6 | Sittin On Go | 10 | Dale Romans | $139,800 |
| 7 | Brooklyn Strong | 10 | Daniel Velazquez | $82,500 |
| 8 | Capo Kane | 10 | Harold Wyner | $82,500 |
| 9 | Life Is Good | 10 | Bob Baffert | $60,000 |
| 10 | Hot Rod Charlie | 8 | Doug O'Neill | $340,000 |
| 11 | Midnight Bourbon | 6 | Steve Asmussen | $68,000 |
| 12 | Cowan | 4 | Steve Asmussen | $290,477 |
| 13 | Rombauer | 4 | Michael McCarthy | $120,500 |
| 14 | Reinvestment Risk | 4 | Chad Brown | $120,000 |
| 15 | Super Stock | 4 | Steve Asmussen | $59,000 |
| 16 | Ten for Ten | 4 | Shug McGaughey III | $50,000 |
| 17 | The Great One | 4 | Doug O'Neill | $40,500 |
| 18 | Smiley Sobotka | 4 | Dale Romans | $38,400 |
| 19 | Eagle Orb | 4 | Rudy Rodriguez | $30,000 |
| 20 | Medina Spirit | 4 | Bob Baffert | $20,000 |
| 21 | Arabian Prince | 2 | Dallas Stewart | $24,063 |
| 22 | Petruchio | 2 | Richard Mandella | $24,000 |
| 23 | Waspirant | 2 | John Shirreffs | $24,000 |
| 24 | Hold the Salsa | 2 | Richard Lugovich | $19,125 |
| 25 | Swill | 2 | Brad Cox | $18,600 |
| 26 | Known Agenda | 2 | Todd Pletcher | $18,000 |
| 27 | Parnelli | 2 | John Shirreffs | $12,000 |
| 28 | Pickin' Time | 1 | Kelly Breen | $157,925 |
| 29 | Red Flag | 1 | John Shirreffs | $72,000 |
| 30 | Therideofalifetime | 1 | Ignacio Correas IV | $39,500 |
| 31 | Upstriker | 1 | Ron Moquett | $20,000 |
| 32 | Civil War | 1 | Tom Albertrani | $15,000 |
*Non-restricted stakes earnings
