LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Before Ethan West could fully immerse himself in Kentucky Derby week, Chunk of Gold’s 32-year-old trainer had a paternal duty to perform.

West is the coach of his 15-year-old son Lane’s youth basketball team. Sunday night, West returned to his home base in northern Kentucky for the league championship game.

“Someone sent a film crew over and I told the kids before the game,” West said Monday morning after galloping Chunk of Gold. “It got them a little worked up. They were ready to go. I just had to sit there. I told the guy afterwards it’s got to be a boring game to film because coaching these kids is easy.”

The outcome: “It was great, I think it was like 65 to 30.”

West hopes Saturday goes as well with Chunk of Gold, a $2,500 yearling purchase who has finished second in all three of his 2025 starts. The son of Preservationist ran second to Baby Max in the Leonatus Stakes at Turfway on Jan. 18; second to Magnitude in the Grade 2 Risen Star at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 15; second to Tiztastic in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds on March 22.

Since returning to Kentucky, he’s worked well on the poly surface at Turfway and the dirt at Churchill Downs. Those works, along with the recent success of Turfway-based horses in the Triple Crown — Seize the Grey won the 2024 Preakness; Two Phil’s was second in the 2023 Derby — has led racing touts to tab Chunk of Gold as a horse to watch on Saturday.

Another plus: Jockey Jareth Loveberry, who rode Two Phil’s in 2023, will ride Chunk of Gold on Saturday.

“He’s doing fantastic,” West said of his contender. “He shipped over here great. He knows what he’s here for.”

Originally from Cambridge City, Ind., West and his brother Aaron became interested in horses through their grandparents. Ethan worked in the receiving barn at Hoosier Park before he and his brother moved to Russell Springs, where Aaron leased a training center. Ethan worked for his brother — the two still talk multiple times a day — before going out on his own in 2018. He trains about 30 horses, based near Erlanger, where he lives with his wife, Paige, and children, Lane (15), Nash (12), Jett (9) and True (18 months).

His one graded stakes win came when Runaway Storm captured the Grade 3 Bryan Station Stakes in 2023 at Keeneland. With $348,818 in earnings, Chunk of Gold is the best horse West has trained.

Bred by the late Brereton Jones, Chunk of Gold was purchased by Chris Melton for that $2,500 price at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2023.

“When I got him for $2,500 I thought, uh oh, I’ve missed something,” Melton told the Bloodhorse. “He was a little immature, but you could tell he was going to grow up and be a good-looking horse, and he has.”

Melton and Terry Stephens, owner of Stephens Pipe & Steel in Russell Springs, raced the horse together until Stephens bought Melton’s share. Stephens was part of the ownership group that raced O Besos, who ran fourth in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

Stephens has had horses with Aaron West, but Chunk of Gold is his first with Ethan. The colt won his racing debut at Turfway last November before his string of second-place finishes this year.

“I’m anxious, ready for it to be here,” West said Monday of his first Kentucky Derby. “We got a few more days to sit on, but we’re all set to go.”

Does the recent success of Turfway horses give the trainer any more confidence?

“It’s just going to take the right trip, you know,” West said. “I think you can ask everybody in there, it’s not necessarily the best horse that wins. It’s the luckiest.

“I think one benefit for us is that he’s not trip dependent at all. It’s not like he’s one dimensional where he has to be on the lead. It’s not like he’s got to have a fast pace to run into. He’s very tactical. He could sit where we need to sit.”

What about drawing post position No. 19 in the 20-horse field?

“I’m kind of over it now,” West said. “I don’t want to be out that wide, but the more people I talked to, it calmed my nerves on it. Inside, they’re going to be bumping and hitting around, so we should be able to avoid all that.”

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