NOTEBOOK: DERBY FAVORITE SHORT AGAIN.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Staff WriterLOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Underscoring how competitive this Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. was expected to be, fans had a hard time settling on the tote-board favorite. Brother Derek had been the future-book favorite for weeks and was established as the morning-line favorite Wednesday. Barbaro became a lukewarm favorite at 6-1 in early betting Friday and stayed that way until the horses were on the track for the race. Only in the final minutes did a surge in wagering on Sweetnorthernsaint give the gelding gelding castrated male horse. the favorite's role with odds of 5.50-1. Sweetnorthernsaint's odds were the second-highest for a Derby favorite, next to the 6-1 for Harlan's Holiday, who finished seventh in 2002. Sweetnorthernsaint also finished seventh. He became the 25th post-time favorite to lose in the past 27 years. Barbaro won as the public's second choice. ``I loomed up to third (turning into the stretch),'' said Kent Desormeaux, Sweetnorthernsaint's rider, ``asked him a little bit, but there was nothing there. ... We'll get them next time.'' --Undercard: California horses had a better time in the Churchill Downs races before the Kentucky Derby. Mike Pegram-owned Pussycat puss·y·cat n. 1. A cat. 2. Informal One who is regarded as easygoing, mild-mannered, or amiable. Noun 1. Doll (4-1) and Garrett Gomez caught Hal Earnhardt's Behaving Badly (4-5) and Victor Espinoza in the stretch as trainer Bob Baffert finished 1-2 in the Humana Distaff Handicap The Humana Distaff Handicap is a race for thoroughbred fillies and mares, four-years-old and up. The race is run each spring on Derby Day at Churchill Downs and set at a distance of 7 furlongs for a purse of $250,000. The Humana Distaff is a Grade I event. sprint for fillies and mares. Behaving Badly had won four in a row at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. Mirabilis, the 4-year-old filly from France whose previous best effort in a U.S. race was a third to Silver Cup in Santa Anita's Buena Vista, won the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile for jockey Patrick Valenzuela and trainer Bobby Frankel. Special Grayce was second. Trickey Trevor won the Churchill Downs Handicap The Churchill Downs Handicap is a sprint at seven furlongs on the dirt for Thoroughbred horses run at Churchill Downs. The race is a Grade II event raced on the same day as the Kentucky Derby and is a prep to the Breeders' Cup Sprint. for the venerable Bay Area team of Russell Baze and Jerry Hollendorfer. With Distinction and Espinoza were second. Sacred Light and Rafael Bejarano ran second to Nolan's Cat and Rene Douglas in an allowance race in the runner-up's first start since he stumbled at the start and wound up fourth in the Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. . Gomez also won the richest race on the undercard un·der·card n. The event or events coming before and supporting the main event, as of boxing matches. with Todd Pletcher- trained English Channel in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, edging Cacique ca·cique n. 1. An Indian chief, especially in the Spanish West Indies and other parts of Latin America during colonial and postcolonial times. 2. A local political boss in Spain or Latin America. and the Valenzuela-Frankel combo. --Bottom lines: The Churchill Downs crowd of 157,336 was bigger than any for the Kentucky Derby except the 163,628 who saw the 100th Derby in 1974. ... The Derby purse was $2,213,200, of which $1,453,200 went to Barbaro's owners. ... Barbaro's 2:01.36 clocking made this the 13th-fastest Derby. |
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