Stark Contrast horse trainer, jockey, owner for Kentucky Derby 2026

Oct 30, 2025; Del Mar, CA, USA; Stark Contrast trains ahead of the 2025 Breeders Cup Championship at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images

Color: Bay.

Bred in: Kentucky.

Sire: Caravaggio.

Dam: Catch the Eye, by Quality Road.

Price tag: Homebred.

Owner: Amerman Racing (John & Jerry Amerman). They’re 0 for 1 in the Derby, finishing ninth with Endlessly in 2024.

Trainer: Michael McCarthy. He’s 0 for 2 in the Derby, best finishing coming with Journalism (second) in 2025.

Jockey: TBA.

Record: 3-2-0 in six starts.

Career earnings: $492,700.

Road to the Kentucky Derby points: 50 (No. 15).

Last race: Second in Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 21 at Turfway Park, 2½ lengths behind Fulleffort.

Running style: Stalker/mid-pack.

Notes: Stark Contrast made his debut on dirt at Del Mar last August, finishing fourth, and hasn’t raced on dirt since. He made four straight starts on turf before the runner-up finish in the Jeff Ruby Stakes on Turfway Park’s synthetic surface. … McCarthy said he’d prefer to run Stark Contrast in the Grade 1 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard. … McCarthy famously did not want to enter Endlessly in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, preferring a turf race, but did so at the request of the Amermans.

What they’re saying: “He may win on the first Saturday in May; I don't think it'll be in the Kentucky Derby,” McCarthy said of Stark Contrast. “Being by Caravaggio out of a Quality Road mare, we just think something like the American Turf would be in his wheelhouse.”

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

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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby 2026 horse Stark Contrast trainer, jockey, owner, more