From Pine Plains to the Kentucky Derby: Audible

PINE PLAINS— A brief but thrilling Kentucky Derby was made slightly more exciting for Tri-state fans thanks to the performance of Audible, a horse bred in Pine Plains. 

Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, handled adverse track conditions to win the 2018 Kentucky Derby. 

Good Magic, trained by upstate New York’s Chad Brown, was second, a length back.

Audible, trained by Todd Pletcher, was third in the fast, sloppy derby.

Audible was foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains and ridden by Javier Castellano. He had to overcame a rough start in this race. Caught mid-pack, Audible settled on the back stretch then responded to Castellano’s request at the far turn and shot up the rail. 

He was one of few colts closing on the leaders, and with one more step, he would have passed Good Magic for second. With that effort, it is likely this colt will be entered in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.  

Berkshire Stud is owned and run by Douglas Koch. The property was once part of a large parcel put together by Oakleigh Thorne and other Millbrook-area residents; prize-winning Angus cattle were raised there when the property was known as Briarcliff Farm.

Koch said in an interview with the Poughkeepsie Journal before Derby Day that the 3-year-old Audible is the third Thoroughbred from Berkshire Stud to compete in the Derby. 

The horse now lives and trains at Winstar Farm in Versailles, Ky. It is sponsored by Audible, the audio book company that was purchased in 2008 by Amazon. The horse didn’t get its name from its sponsor, however. In interviews, the owners have said he was named for a football term (to give an audible); the audio book company was monitoring web hits for the word “audible” and discovered that the winner of the Florida Derby and contender in this year’s race for the roses was getting a number of hits. They then struck a deal to sponsor the horse so they could take advantage of the media magic. 

There is an Audible/Audible website with horse photos at www.audible.com/ep/go-audible.