Kentucky Derby 2023: Get to know the trainers who have horses running at Churchill Downs

Fourteen trainers are headed to Churchill Downs to vie for one of horse racing's biggest prizes with the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 6 after multiple scratches in the two days leading up to Saturday's main event.

The Run for the Roses field includes four newcomers — Ben Colebrook (Raise Cain), Terunobu Fujita (Mandarin Hero), Hidetaka Otonashi (Derma Sotogake) and Larry Rivelli (Two Phil's) — and two veterans who are in line to have multiple horses in the starting gate: Brad Cox and Todd Pletcher.

Derby mainstay Bob Baffert, meanwhile, cannot go for a record-breaking seventh trip to the winner's circle because he is serving the remainder of a two-year suspension from Churchill Downs.

Want to factor the trainer into your Derby bets? Here's a look at the lineup:

Steve Asmussen

Kentucky Derby horse: Disarm

The winningest North American trainer of all time, Asmussen squeaked into the Derby field with Disarm's third-place finish in the Grade 3 Lexington on April 15 at Keeneland. The South Dakota native has made 24 starts in the race dating back to 2001 but has not yet reached the winner's circle. He was close to ending the drought last year with Epicenter, who led the pack down the stretch only to watch long shot Rich Strike surge ahead for a stunning upset.

'What just happened?' Steve Asmussen in shock after Epicenter loses in Kentucky Derby

Ben Colebrook

Kentucky Derby horse: Raise Cain

Ten years after notching his first win as a trainer, Colebrook has his first Derby contender in Raise Cain, who ranked ninth in qualifying points with 64. The Bristol, Tennessee, native posted a career-best $3,082,185 in earnings in 2018 and has five wins through 40 starts thus far in 2023. His horses have finished on the board 14 times this year.

Brad Cox

Kentucky Derby horses: Angel of Empire, Hit Show, Jace's Road, Verifying

The Louisville native's lone Derby win came via Medina Spirit’s disqualification in 2021. Cox brings four horses into his third Run for the Roses after the Chad Brown-trained Blazing Sevens dropped out Sunday. His trio of contenders in 2022 finished seventh (Tawny Port), 10th (Zozos) and 18th (Cyberknife). In the fall, Cox notched a victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland with Caravel, who at 42-1 won in wire-to-wire fashion. He is the top-earning trainer in North America this year ($7,989,383) with 67-first place finishes, and a 60% win-place-show rate across 246 starts.

Brad Cox: Five things to know about the Louisville-born horse trainer, including his road to success

Gustavo Delgado

Kentucky Derby horse: Mage

Delgado was in line to contend for the Derby in 2020 with Caracaro, but the horse was ruled out after suffering an injury to his right front leg during a workout at Saratoga less than a month before the race. Mage will give the Venezuelan his third start in the Run for the Roses after training Majesto, who finished 18th in 2016, and Bodexpress, who placed 13th in 2019. Delgado is a three-time winner of his home country's Triple Crown equivalent.

Keith Desormeaux

Kentucky Derby horse: Confidence Game

Desormeaux has had three horses race in the Derby — most notably 2016 runner-up Exaggerator, who went on to win the Preakness weeks later. This year, his trainees have posted top-three finishes in 22 of their 54 starts, with nine trips to the winner's circle. He is the brother of Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, who won the Run for the Roses aboard Real Quiet (1998), Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) and Big Brown (2008).

Terunobu Fujita

Kentucky Derby horse: Mandarin Hero

Fujita enters his first Derby after the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Thursday decided to scratch all of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.'s horses, including Run for the Roses contender Lord Miles, until further notice after two of his trainees died while racing at Churchill Downs earlier this week. The third Japanese horse in the field, Fujita's Mandarin Hero finished second in the Santa Anita Derby to another Derby qualifier who has since been scratched, Tim Yakteen's Practical Move. The 3-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby has a 4-2-0 record across six starts.

Kenny McPeek

Kentucky Derby horse: Sun Thunder

Making his eighth career Derby appearance, McPeek's two entries last year (Smile Happy, Tiz the Bomb) placed eighth and ninth, respectively. The Lexington-based trainer's best finish in the Run for the Roses came in 1995 with runner-up Tejano Run. He also trained two Derby horses in 2013, but neither placed in the top 10. This year, McPeek's horses have won 22 of their 156 starts, with 56 top-three finishes.

Bill Mott

Kentucky Derby horse: Rocket Can

A Hall of Famer whose lone Derby victory (Country House) came via a historic disqualification in 2019, Mott held the title of winningest trainer at Churchill Downs for more than 31 years before being dethroned by Dale Romans in 2017. The South Dakota native has entered a total of 11 horses in the Run for the Roses during his decadeslong career, with just two finishes on the board — Tacitus placed third in 2019 after Maximum Security was disqualified. He ranks fourth in North America with more than $3.9 million earned this year thanks to a 49% win-place-show rate.

Ron Moquett

Kentucky Derby horse: King Russel

The trainer of the last alternate in the 2023 Derby field, Moquett entered the mix when Japanese contender Continuar scratched Thursday night. This will be the Oklahoma native's third Derby, with his best finish coming in 2015 when he finished 15th with Far Right. Moquett has 947 career victories across 7,685 starts. This year, his horses have won only 13 of their 165 starts but own a 36% win-place-show percentage. In 2016, his Run for the Roses entry, Whitmore, finished 19th. King Russell is 1-2-0 across three starts this year and enters the Derby after a runner-up finish to Angel of Empire in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 1 at Oaklawn Park.

Hidetaka Otonashi

Kentucky Derby horse: Derma Sotogake

A former jockey who won 84 races in Japan between 1979 and 1993, Otonashi will make his first Derby start with UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake. Otonashi has tallied more than 900 first-place finishes in the Japanese Racing Association since becoming a certified trainer in 1995, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Derma Sotogake is 4-0-2 in eight career starts.

Todd Pletcher

Kentucky Derby horses: Kingsbarns, Tapit Trice

A Hall of Famer who holds the record for most career Derby starts (62), Pletcher boasted the strongest hand in this year's field until morning-line favorite Forte scratched Saturday morning. The Texan won his first Triple Crown race since 2017 last spring with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Mo Donegal in the Belmont Stakes. Having earned more than $7 million dollars already in 2023, he's looking to add a third Derby victory to his résumé to join Always Dreaming (2017), Super Saver (2010) and six others who have finished on the board.

Todd Pletcher: Tapit Trice takes Blue Grass, strengthening trainer's hand for Kentucky Derby 2023

Larry Rivelli

Kentucky Derby horse: Two Phil's

Rivelli in January told BloodHorse.com that he usually tries to "steer clear of the Derby" but said his first entry, Two Phil's, is the type of horse that "warrants a chance." The Chicago native secured a spot in the field March 25, when jockey Jareth Loveberry and Two Phil's rallied off the final turn for a 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky. His horses have won 16 races thus far in 2023, with 37 finishes on the board across 53 starts.

Dale Romans

Kentucky Derby horse: Cyclone Mischief

A Louisville native who held the title of winningest trainer at Churchill Downs from 2017-20, Romans will make his 12th career Derby start with Cyclone Mischief, who entered the field when Yakteen's Practical Move scratched Thursday. With 2,152 wins across 14,243 starts, Romans ranks among the top 25 highest-earning trainers in North American history ($117.7 million). He won the Preakness in 2011 with Shackleford, but a victory in the Run for the Roses has eluded him. He has had two horses finish in third place, Paddy O'Prado in 2010 and Dullahan in 2012.

Cyclone Mischief moves into field: Here's why Practical Move scratched from Kentucky Derby 2023

Tim Yakteen

Kentucky Derby horses: Reincarnate

Yakteen made his Derby debut last year after receiving two horses from Baffert. Those horses, Taiba and Messier, finished 12th and 15th, respectively. And he received more this year, including Reincarnate, as Baffert serves the remainder of his suspension from Churchill Downs. A veteran trainer from Germany who moved to the United States in 1982, Yakteen won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in early April with jockey Ramon Vazquez aboard Practical Move, who at 10-1 odds was scratched from the field Thursday due to an elevated temperature. Yakteen's horses have 14 first-place finishes (32 on the board) across 71 starts this year.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: From Brad Cox to Todd Pletcher: Meet the Kentucky Derby 2023 trainers