‘Kentucky Roses’ Makes a Derby Date With Destiny
Hallmark bets on love and wins with Andrew Walker and Odette Annable.
Pour yourself a Mint Julep because Hallmark has hit the trifecta — romance, roses, and racehorses — with Kentucky Roses, a legit heartstopper filmed at and around Louisville’s iconic Churchill Downs racetrack.
Out of the gate, you have Hallmark royalty Andrew Walker (the Three Wise Men trilogy) charming his way down the center as Ash Taylor, an altruistic contractor actively making a name for himself away from his dad Frank Reed (Gregg Henry), who just so happens to be the CEO of Churchill Downs. Add in the historic location and Odette Annable‘s network debut as Sadie Moore, an aspiring florist working in the Churchill Downs greenhouse, and you have an opposites-attract crowd favorite filled with clever banter, complicated family ties, and a more grounded courtship than we often see.
Derby Dreams
“Sadie [isn’t] looking for love,” explains Annable on the set of Swooon’s April 2026 digital cover shoot for the Hallmark flick, which premieres on May 2. Sadie is a resilient recent divorcée, and she’s ready to bet on her future. “She has her eye on the prize, which is becoming a florist, and hopefully one day fulfilling her dream of putting some roses on the Derby blanket [bestowed upon the winning horse]. Then Ash comes into her life as a total surprise and kind of sweeps her off her feet.”
“She’s very dedicated to attaining her goal,” continues Walker, the dimpled king of Crown Media. “Whereas Ash already has [what he wants], he loves his life, he’s very fulfilled, and so he’s open and ready to potentially fall for somebody and pivot his life in a way. She’s not. This is a grown-up version of a Hallmark movie, really. But you do get your typical Hallmark moments.”
Almost instantly, in fact. Two weeks before the Kentucky Derby (which goes down in real life just hours before the film’s premiere), Ash is called back home from a charitable project in Cincinnati by his domineering father to oversee repairs to the Downs’ storm-damaged steeple. During a late-night stroll, he runs into Sadie as she’s checking on the plants throughout the grounds. More a meet-curious than a meet-cute, the instantly interested pair’s back-and-forth is suddenly — and serendipitously — interrupted by the Thunder Over Louisville fireworks display that kicks off the annual Kentucky Derby Festival.
“Usually, there are fireworks between the characters when they first meet,” laughs Annable. “But our characters literally had fireworks right in front of them when they first met.”
A Full Circle Run
Off-camera, things were just as spontaneous. When grilled about setting off their on-screen sparks, the stars immediately fell into a back-and-forth that felt like an old married couple comping notes.
“It’s funny you should ask that question because we never met each other,” Annable confesses. “I met [Andrew] on that first day of rehearsals. No, not even…”
“It was the table read,” he reminds her.
“And our very first scene that we shot was really this scene that had to have the most energy,” she continues. “[It was] charged, intimate.”
“And it was close quarters,” Walker goes on, explaining that the moment in question involved a “very detailed intimacy” as their characters open up about their dreams and disappointments while visiting one of Churchill Downs’ secret speakeasy bars.
Annable adds, “And there was a lot of dialogue that you had to pull off. It was like a four-page scene!”
Getting to that emotional exchange, however, is a ride wilder than the race itself, and much of it involves the real-life festivities, such as the Thunder Over Louisville, that lead up to what is referred to as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” So it helped that Hallmark was able to film on location and soak up the undeniable charm of Bourbon City.
“There are so many different events that you can go to [that week] and the culture, you’re right, is just incredible,” offers Annable. “And the community that they’ve built? You can feel the spirit in Louisville. And it really is a very special place.”
In addition to spending over a week filming in “every nook and cranny” at Churchill Downs itself, Walker loves that Roses showcases “a lot of other things that happen at the racetrack outside of just Derby Day,” including the highly anticipated drawing that determines each horse’s position, as well as the “Winsday” charity gala supporting local nonprofits. Fittingly, Walker’s civic-minded Ash gets to take the reins at the movie’s version of the event once his father begins to realize just how important giving back is to his son.
“I love how I come back with my relationship with my dad,” offers Walker, clearly tapping into the universal relatability of the storyline. “As a lot of sons do with their fathers, you repair things throughout the years, and it was kind of life imitating art in a way.”
“My very sweet story actually [is], my dad’s a huge Derby guy and so I would FaceTime him from my trailer in the morning…you’d see the horses warming up on the track, and you just hear them breathing, and it’s dawn, the sun’s just coming up, and dew is coming off the track. And I’ve repaired things with my dad now in my life, and I think that it’s a beautiful story of a father-son relationship kind of finding their way again, as we did.”
Always Bet on Love
Another key component of the Derby is, of course, the roses, and that’s where things get really prickly for our pair. After Ash’s mom (Brynn Thayer) spots Sadie’s arrangements for pregnant bestie Camila’s (Abigail Esmena) baby shower, she hires her to create pieces for a pre-race fundraiser, irking the local florist Sadie’s been assisting. Without access to her angry mentor’s stock and unaware that her new client is the hunky contractor’s mom, Sadie must scramble to find flowers while also clashing with Ash over his possible role in her landing the gig. To make matters worse, it turns out there’s a bit of bad blood between the wealthy Reeds and earthier Moores over a doomed, decades-old romance between two of their ancestors that leads to an unexpected exploration of haves versus have-nots.
“We come from completely two different worlds,” Walker points out. “We tackle the subject of different classes…like Titanic. It’s very similar.”
And while no icebergs, drawings of French girls, or floating doors that could easily fit two people were harmed in the making of the movie, “there’s a necklace!” declares a gleeful Annable, who even sports the piece in our video shoot. [Editor’s Note: A replica of the necklace featured in the film is available at Hallmark.com.]
Whether or not Ash and Sadie can straighten things out before the jockeys mount their horses — or if the Louisville locals will be able to save the day when catastrophe threatens the creation of the beloved Derby garland of roses — fuels the backstretch of the film. As does a surprising reveal about those star-crossed relatives from long ago that could close the distance between the Reeds and the Moores.
“It all felt very full circle, just leaning into that multi-generational love story, which feels very timeless,” says Annable. “And also absolutely grown-up for Hallmark, which gave us so many textures to play.”
“And believe it or not,” Walker winks, “she’s pretty easy to fall in love with.”
So, how was her first time saddling up for Hallmark?
“I always say everything in life is timing, and all of the pieces came together beautifully,” muses the actress. “It all worked out. The script is so amazing and fresh and timeless. Andrew is such a pro. I was so happy that we got to work together. And we have the beautiful Churchill Downs as a backdrop. What more could you want?”
Spoken like a true winner.
Kentucky Roses, Movie Premiere, Saturday, May 2, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel
