Just a Touch trainer, jockey, owner and more to know about 2024 Kentucky Derby horse

Just a Touch is one of 20 horses expected to enter the 2024 Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.

Spots for the Run for the Roses are earned by gaining points through a series of Kentucky Derby prep races that began last September.

The post-position draw for the Kentucky Derby is set for Saturday, April 27. Post time for the Kentucky Derby is set for 6:57 p.m. on Saturday, May 4.

Just a Touch will enter the Kentucky Derby off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 6 at Keeneland. He currently ranks ninth on the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard with 75.

Just a Touch

Color: Bay

Bred in: Kentucky

Sire: Justify

Dam: Touching Beauty, by Tapit

Price tag: $300,000 at 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training

Owners: Qatar Racing (Sheikh Fahad al Thani), Resolute Racing, Marc Detampel, first Derby for each

Trainer: Brad Cox, 1 for 9 in Derby. Won via disqualification with Mandaloun in 2021.

Jockey: Florent Geroux, 1 for 7 in Derby. Won via disqualification with Mandaloun in 2021.

Record: 1-2-0 in three starts

Career earnings: $281,700

Road to the Kentucky Derby points: 75 (No. 9)

Last race: Second in Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 6 at Keeneland, 1 ½ lengths behind Sierra Leone

Running style: Stalker

Notes: Just a Touch did not race as a 2-year-old and won his debut Jan. 27 at Fair Grounds. His sire, Justify, did not race as a 2-year-old and went on to win the Triple Crown in 2018. … Just a Touch went through the sales ring three times. As a yearling, he did not meet the RNA (reserve not attained) at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. A month later he was sold to Scanlon Training & Sales for $125,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale. Scanlon sold Just a Touch at Ocala in April of 2023. … Just a Touch is one of two sons of Justify who could run in this year’s Kentucky Derby, joining Arkansas Derby runner-up Just Steel.

What they’re saying: “It actually gives me confidence that he has another step forward left,” Cox said of Just a Touch having only three career starts. “He’s going to have to get better in the next four weeks, and oftentimes these colts can do that.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.

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