LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There are many ways to approach your first Kentucky Derby. Jockey Reylu Gutierrez didn’t have much time to dwell on it, spending a busy month of April riding at Keeneland before moving his tack to Churchill Downs for the current meet. The philosophy of the jockey, 26, is to keep his focus on each horse he gets on, and do his homework for each one. “We’ve got to get victories at Keeneland, and those results are what matter today,” Gutierrez said after climbing off Arkansas Derby runner-up Barber Road, the gray colt who will be his first Kentucky Derby mount, following a late-April workout before heading back down the highway for a late-meet race day at Keeneland. “We’re just focused on right now.” John Ortiz, who will saddle Barber Road, is . . . less philosophical. “I’m probably more nervous than the horse,” said the 36-year-old first-time Derby trainer. “I’m washing out. I’ve got ulcers that are reactivating. No, honestly, I’m fine. I’m starting to take it in. I don’t think it’s hit just yet. There’s been a couple things, like when we put the yellow saddle towel on him in the morning for the first time. I kind of felt a little something inside my chest here – and it felt good.” Gutierrez and Ortiz, who grew up in racing families on opposite sides of New York state – Gutierrez in Rochester near Finger Lakes Racetrack, Ortiz in Elmont, home of Belmont Park – are among four jockeys and six trainers who have their first Derby entrants, all trying to soak in the moment while going about their day-to-day jobs. “Everybody that’s been around here just keeps telling me, ‘Just enjoy the ride,’ ” Ortiz said. “Which we are, from the very beginning. This horse doesn’t owe us anything, and we’re just here to be part of his journey that he’s taking us on.” The 2022 Derby debut cast originally hails from Australia, France, India, Japan, and elsewhere. Trainer Koichi Shintani saddles Group 2 UAE Derby winner Crown Pride, and Bhupat Seemar sends out UAE Derby runner-up Summer Is Tomorrow. The Kentucky Derby will be the first time either has run a horse in the United States. Most of the Derby rookies partner with longshots. All are double-digit odds on the morning line, with the exception of one of Tim Yakteen’s two charges, Messier at 8-1. But the odds don’t always predict the Derby winner. “The Derby’s all about getting the best trip,” Gutierrez said. “The best horse doesn’t always win – we’ve seen that. Gun Runner finished third in his Derby and came out to be a legendary horse. . . . We’re going to have to get a clean trip, and that depends on me and studying my race and getting him a clean trip and helping him be the best horse he can be. So I’ll put pressure on myself to find that.” Friday, Gutierrez will do his homework for four mounts, including Hidden Connection in his first Kentucky Oaks. But then he will have a long wait on Saturday with nothing to do but ponder the Derby. Barber Road is his first mount of the day on a card that begins at 10:30 a.m., with the Derby going off near 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Ortiz, who has two entrants Friday at Oaklawn Park and only Barber Road to walk over on Saturday, is looking forward to sharing the day with others, participating in the tradition of backstretch picnics on Derby Day. “I’m actually pretty excited to set up a little picnic table at our barn and have all our employees and their friends and family come over and hang out by the barn and enjoy the races,” he said. “This is what this game is about, after all – the Kentucky Derby. You need to camp out in the barn and hang out and enjoy good horse racing.” Here is a look at the jockeys and trainers who will be on the program in the Kentucky Derby for the first time. Mickael Barzalona, jockey, Summer Is Tomorrow Born in France . . . 30 . . . Won 2012 Dubai World Cup on Monterosso . . . Won 2011 Epsom Derby with Pour Moi . . . Won 2017 Breeders’ Cup Turf on Talismanic . . . Has been a regular rider to multiple Group 1 winners Earthlight, Sealiway, and Victor Ludorum in recent years. A leading jockey in France last season, Barzalona has two prior rides at Churchill Downs. He will be piloting Summer Is Tomorrow for the second time after riding him in the UAE Derby. Reylu Gutierrez, jockey, Barber Road Born in Rochester, N.Y. . . 26 . . . Has won 24 stakes races . . . Won on Do Share in the Grade 3 Tom Fool in 2019 and Hidden Connection in the Grade 3 Pocahontas last fall . . . 2018 Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey. A first Derby ride is another milestone in this ascendant career. Gutierrez grew up near Finger Lakes, where his father, Luis, was a trainer and his uncle Jose was a jockey. He had his first mount in October 2017 and earned his first win shortly thereafter on one of his father’s horses. He rode in his first Triple Crown race in the 2020 Belmont, finishing 10th aboard Jungle Runner. Last November, he had his first Breeders’ Cup ride, guiding Hidden Connection to a fourth in the Juvenile Fillies. He rides Hidden Connection on Friday in the Oaks. Christophe Lemaire, jockey, Crown Pride Born in France . . . 42 . . . Won nine Grade 1/Group 1 races on Japanese champion Almond Eye, including two editions of the Japan Cup, the Japanese Oaks, Japanese 1000 Guineas, and Dubai Turf . . . Won the 2009 Japan Cup with another great mare in Vodka . . . owns two editions of the Japan Cup Dirt . . . Won 2011 Melbourne Cup on Dunaden . . . Won 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Flotilla . . . Has won multiple Group 1s on the likes of Gran Alegria, Heart’s Cry, and Stacelita. Successful in Europe, Lemaire has become a leading rider in Japan and picks up the mount on Crown Pride. In the summer of 2012, he won the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington on Bayrir and that fall won the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Flotilla, with whom he went on to win a European classic the next year. Lemaire has not ridden at Churchill Downs since the 2011 Breeders’ Cup. “It’s like going to Disneyland,” he said. Sonny Leon, jockey, Rich Strike Born in Venezuela . . . 32 . . . Has won more than a dozen stakes, including back-to-back editions of the Best of Ohio Endurance with Forewarned … Looking for first graded win. Leon, who would have his first Derby ride if also-eligible Rich Strike draws in, is a perennial leading rider in Ohio. Brian Lynch, trainer, Classic Causeway Born in Australia . . . 57 . . . Trained Oscar Performance to win the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and six other graded stakes, including Grade 1s in the Belmont Derby, Secretariat, and Woodbine Mile . . . Won 2015 Queen’s Plate with Shaman Ghost . . . Saddled Grade 1 winners Coffee Clique, Grand Arch, and Heart to Heart. Lynch, whose family was involved in horse racing in Australia, came to the United States in 1986 to ride bulls on the professional rodeo circuit, but eventually made his way to the racetrack. A former assistant to Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, he put kangaroos on his saddle towels when he went out on his own, in a nod to his heritage. “It’s really exciting for my owners and for us as a barn to have a horse like this,” Lynch said. “We won some pretty big races in the Breeders’ Cup and Queen’s Plate, but you could say it would be a dream come true to win the Kentucky Derby.” John Ortiz, trainer, Barber Road Born in Elmont, N.Y. . . .36 . . . First graded win came with Zulu Alpha, whom he saddled to win the Grade 3 Sycamore in his first start off a claim . . . Claimed Honey Bunny and saddled her to win the Grade 3 Winning Colors in 2019 . . . Has also trained graded winner Mr Dumas. The son of former jockey Carlos Ortiz, John Ortiz began working in trainer Bill Mott’s barn as a hotwalker and worked his way up to become a foreman and exercise rider; he also later worked for Graham Motion. He saddled his first winner in 2016 at Turfway. Ortiz, who is coming off a hot meet at Oaklawn Park, has garnered notice for a barn system where he pays all his exercise riders, grooms, foremen, and hot walkers a fixed salary rather than the traditional system of by the horse. Eric Reed, trainer, Rich Strike Born in Versailles, Ky. . . .57 . . . Trained Satans Quick Chick to win a pair of stakes, including the Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland in 2009 . . . She also earned Grade 1 placings behind Horse of the Year honorees Zenyatta and Havre de Grace. Reed’s stable was ravaged by a tragic fire that killed 23 horses in December 2016. Operating out of Mercury Equine Century just outside Lexington, Ky., the trainer has rebounded. He is in the odd position of preparing also-eligible Rich Strike as though he will run Saturday, while waiting until Friday morning to find out if he draws in. “We are going to do all the things we have to do,” Reed said. “He will school in the paddock, but he doesn’t need to go to the gate. He’s good in the gate.” :: DRF has you covered! Get everything you need to win big on Derby Day with a Kentucky Derby Package and get up to 41% off retail price. Bhupat Seemar, trainer, Summer Is Tomorrow Born in India . . . 45 . . . Saddled Switzerland to win the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on the same night Summer Is Tomorrow was second in the Group 2 UAE Derby . . . Leading trainer in his first season in the United Arab Emirates. Seemar got an introduction to the U.S. Thoroughbred industry as an intern for Taylor Made Farm before working for Bob Baffert for five years. He then was an assistant to his uncle, six-time UAE leading trainer Satish Seemar, for nearly two decades at Zabeel Stables. In November, he became the head trainer at the operation after Satish Seemar was temporarily suspended by the Emirates Racing Authority after being placed on a U.S. sanctions list due to training a horse for Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic. In a statement, Satish Seemar said that the horse in question, North America, is no longer in training at Zabeel and he expects the matter of his license to be resolved. Bhupat Seemar is now back at Churchill Downs for the first time since the Baffert-trained War Emblem won the Derby in 2002. “It has been a long time, but that wasn’t my first Derby,” Seemar said. “I was here as a spectator for Charismatic.” Koichi Shintani, trainer, Crown Pride Born in Japan . . . 25 . . . UAE Derby winner Crown Pride is his first graded/group winner … Also trains stakes winner Remake. Shintani, who took out his training license in 2020, is seeking another milestone victory for Japanese horses, who scored breakthrough wins at the Breeders’ Cup last fall before winning races on the Dubai World Cup card. Crown Pride breaks from post 7. “We’re very happy with lucky number seven,” Shintani said Monday. “And the Derby is on May 7.” Tim Yakteen, trainer, Messier and Taiba Born in Germany … 57 … Former assistant to Bob Baffert and Charlie Wittingham . . . Trainer of two-time Grade 1 winner Points Offthebench, an Eclipse Award champion . . . Trainer of Grade 1 winner and California-bred champion Mucho Unusual. Yakteen sent out Taiba and Messier – both former Baffert trainees – to finish one-two in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9. He received the horses into his care in late March.