It’s the second Derby victory for both trainer Todd Pletcher, who won with Super Saver in 2010, and for Velazquez, who won atop Animal Kingdom in 2011.
Their record for wins as a jockey-trainer combination substantiate that definition. Track conditions are rated sloppy for horses slogging through the mud in a light but steady drizzle.
“On to the Preakness”, said Vincent Viola, who, with five partners, owns Always Dreaming. I was a little anxious down the back side, I thought a couple of times he wasn’t completely in the bridle.
“From then on, I was just sitting there until the quarter-pole when I asked him to run”.
“The first order of business is to make sure he came out of it well, and the second order of business is how can you get there and what’s the best approach to getting to the Preakness”, Pletcher said. Calvin Borel was aboard that day.
“I’m definitely proud of Lee”, Asmussen said.
Always Dreaming has three wins in five career starts, although there is reason to wonder whether the dark bay colt has benefited from suspect competition.
For the fifth year in a row the post-time wagering favorite won the Kentucky Derby, something that hadn’t happened in more than 25 years.
Now it’s on to Pimlico and the second jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, where the distance is a sixteen-of-a-mile shorter than the Derby and a course that Always Dreaming should relish.
Pletcher made two decisions at Churchill Downs recently that turned the winning colt around.
Derby fans weathered rainstorms and the unseasonal cold during the day, to watch post-time favorite Always Dreaming win the 143 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Lookin At Lee returned $26.60 and $15.20, while Battle of Midway paid $20.80.
Battle of Midway finished third with 40-1 odds. Lookin At Lee went off at 30-1, producing an exactor payoff of $336.20. A 50 cent trifecta paid a whopping $4,148.60.
– Three races are in the books leading up to the Kentucky Derby, where cold and wet weather has forced spectators to bundle up and use colorful hats for function rather than fashion at Churchill Downs.
Always Dreaming, a son of 2012 runner-up Bodemeister, is owned by a six-way partnership. Thunder Snow (IRE) did not finish.
Thunder Snow had no interest in running a horse race on Saturday, bucking and prancing his way to a last place finish in the Derby and a first place finish in my anarchic horse power rankings.
Christophe Soumillon protected his mount while defending himself and pulled Thunder Snow out of the race.
The other factor was that since the rain started on Thursday, the track has been favoring front-running speed horses and horses that stay down near the rail.
Girvin, the victor of Fair Grounds’ Risen Star and Louisiana Derby, the top qualifier (who had his training interrupted by a right-front quarter crack) finished 13th.
After the race, Pletcher said he was totally absorbed in his jockey’s ride and his colt’s performance. “We wanted to get in a position we like to have, in a comfortable position”.
“He’s an incredible horse, obviously a very young horse, with not a lot of experience, and to come here today and the way he did it was very impressive”.
Despite winning a record seven Eclipse Awards for Top Trainer and ranking as the leading purse victor in history at age 49, Pletcher is the guy who’s saddled nearly 50 horses for the Kentucky Derby and won just once. “Nothing against all the others, but this was the best horse”.
