Trainer Kelly Breen is assured of having an entry in this year’s Kentucky Derby. The Breen-trained Black Onyx won the $550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes at the Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., on March 23.
By winning the Grade III Kentucky Derby Prep, Black Onyx, which was a 15-1 shot, earned 50 points in the new Churchill Downs points system, all but assuring the 3-year-old colt a spot in the Kentucky Derby.
Monmouth Park veteran Joe Bravo was in the saddle for the win. Black Onyx is owned by Sam Herzberg. Breen, who lives in Howell and has saddled up Kentucky Derby entrants in the past, owns a Triple Crown victory with Ruler On Ice, which captured the Belmont Stakes in 2011.