Co-favorite Always Dreaming wins Kentucky Derby

Mary Ellen Bonomo came up with the name.

Anthony Bonomo thinks there must be something wrong with you if you’re not smiling.

Todd Pletcher knows the narrative all too well, even if he rarely bothers to refute it.

This year’s swarm only predicted two of the four top finishers-Always Dreaming and Classic Empire-and it had the pair in the wrong order.

The Always Dreaming – Lookin at Lee exacta was worth $336.20 for a $2 wager. Lookin at Lee, a 33-1 shot, returned $26.60, $15.20, while 40-1 choice Battle of Midway paid $20.80.

A trainer and jockey accustomed to success.

Blackwell placed some of his money on Irish War Cry, a horse with 5-to-1 odds, and some on Patch, an underdog who gained notoriety after losing his left eye, but was more of an outside shot with 13-to-1 odds.

Velazquez also rode Animal Kingdom to a win in the 2011 Derby. “The trip unfolded not exactly the way we had planned”.

“One thing we have going for us is that we brought a fresh horse to Kentucky”.

As might be expected from two successful guys from the neighborhood, he and Viola reveled in Always Dreaming’s win together. Classic Empire was the disputed top selection of the swarm but he barely nabbed fourth place in the race on Saturday.

Of course, If Always Dreaming runs like he did in both the Florida and Kentucky Derbies, Royal Mo and the rest could be all just running for second place.

Always Dreaming finished the 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.59. He’d been favored in every race of his career until the Florida Derby, when he was the second choice to Fountain of Youth victor Gunnevera. Battle of Midway finished five lengths back in and paid $20.80 to show. Another heavily bet colt, McCraken, was eighth.

“The Kentucky Derby would look really good to add to the list”, he said.

One of the best looking horses on the grounds this past week at Churchill Downs was Royal Mo.

“Once he got in a comfortable position I just waited until the quarter poll when I asked him to run”. “We’ve been 24 years together, something like that, and for him to still trust in me and give me an opportunity, it doesn’t happen often in this business”. “He did it himself from there”. In fact, he had won only in Florida, winning a race at Tampa Bay Downs and another at Gulfstream.

“There was a lot of talk about our Derby record, so we were hoping to get another one”, said Pletcher, who had three starters on Saturday.

“There’s no feeling like this”, Vincent Viola said. “We’ll gallop him up to the race”. I had an Oaks/Derby double that was paying $605.20 going on him.

But front and center was Bonomo, who heads a medical malpractice insurance firm in NY and is a big-time political donor. He was recently a witness in a state corruption case involving the head of the state senate. “But never in reality”. “We were excited to introduce our latest round of renovations and our investments in the facility continue to pay off as we strive to improve the guest experience every year”. Golfers are “Always Dreaming” and Fowler is still dreaming of winning that first major.

“He’ll just go into (the Preakness) easy”, he said.

Is there anything unusual about the horses in this year’s derby?