Derby Wrap: Kentucky Derby Winner Was an Animal

The 137th running of the Kentucky Derby is in the books, and it is off to Baltimore for the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the $1 million Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico, and my old stomping grounds.

Animal Kingdom was my third winner on top in the past five years in the Kentucky Derby, missing Mine That Bird and Big Brown.

What? I did not have Big Brown, what the heck was I thinking? Well, I did have him on top in the Preakness.

Here are a few final thoughts about Derby 137:

Moving on to Old Hilltop: It looks like four runners that raced in the Derby are headed to Baltimore: Animal Kingdom, Dialed In, Mucho Macho Man, and Shackleford.

There are nine possible new shooters : Concealed Identity, Dance City, Flashpoint, King Congie, Mr. Commons, Norman Asbjornson, Prime Cut, Saratoga Red, and Sway Away.

Old Rules: One again, several rules were broken this year, as Animal Kingdom became the first Derby winner not to have run on conventional dirt, and the first in over 50 years to win off a six week break.

This is the first time in years I did not purchase Jim Mazur’s Triple Crown Handicapper, and I have to think Jim is having a few sleepless nights.

How do you continue to find winning trends when the rules continue to change? Ah, Jim will figure it out, he’s a smart guy.

Techy Derby: I spent some time on Twitter on Saturday, and it was great to see the event trending, with even Stay Thirty getting a lot of love. I even got a few IPhone shots of winning tickets on Animal Kingdom from one of our subscribers. With IPhone Apps available for the Derby and now Preakness, maybe the sport is finally getting out of the dark ages.

Getting a Handle on Handle: With the downward trend on horse racing betting, it was good to see a small increase in handle this year. Handle on the 13-race card was $161.1 million, up 1.3% over the $159 million wagered last year.

Churchill Downs reported a record attendance of 164,858 on Saturday, breaking the previous record of 163,628 set in 1974.

Who won the Derby that year? Yeah, I had to look it up: Cannonade.

Make it Stop Dept.: Please no more interviews from Millionaires Row from celebrities I have not heard of. Did any female actress pick anyone other than Pants On Fire? And please, enough with the hats, we get it, hats are fun.

NBC / VERSUS Coverage: I thought the television coverage was top notch except for the horrendous sound mixing.

The race call of Larry Collmus, calling his first Derby, was impossible to hear, with a mixture of crowd noise and hearing Churchill Downs track announcer Dave Johnson muffled call in the background.

I went back and viewed both calls and Collmus was flawless, and Johnson made a solid call as well.

Laffitt Pincay Jr was rock solid and an improvement over Joe Tessetore of ESPN. Randy Moss is the best in the business, and Gary Stevens was okay.

The very best part of the coverage? No Hank Goldberg.

Let’s Go to Commercial: At least I was not watching on the NBC affiliate from Albany, Ga. The station accidently went to commercial during the running of the race, and viewers missed the finish.

According to WALB manager Jim Wilcox, the station recently installed new switching equipment, which caused the error.

Jim, Billy Mays is looking down at you and smiling.

Poetry in Motion: While trainers Jeff Mullins and Rick Dutrow are in the news for the wrong reasons, Derby winning trainer Graham Motion is one of the classiest guys in the business.

In addition, he has started over 8,000 horses and has not had ANY drug violations.

Arch, Comma Injured: I am always incredibly nervous in the moments leading up to the Derby, and it has nothing to do with how much money I wagered.

With Barbaro and Eight Belles in our rear view mirror but still in our thoughts, I am always worried about a spill or a breakdown in a race of such magnitude.

Archarcharch suffered a condylar fracture to the left front, and spent Sunday in surgery at the Rood & Riddle Equine Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky.

The surgery was successful, although the colt has been retired from racing.

Comma to the Top suffered a minor ankle injury. Trainer Peter Miller told Churchill Downs officials, “It appears my horse chipped his left ankle. We could see it when we brought him back. I believe we’ll have Dr. [Wayne] McIlwrath from Colorado State University take it out in the next little while".

The colt is expected to be out of training for two months.

They said It: Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked what his favorite part of the Kentucky Derby was. “My favorite part is the last two minutes.” Yeah, Aaron, those first two seconds of the Derby are soooo boring.

Jockey Rosie Napravnik, when asked outside the jocks room by Jay Privman what her thoughts were and was she emotional. “It feels like my pants are on fire.”

I felt a little hot after that comment as well.

Here are the payoffs from the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby:
16 Animal Kingdom $43.80 $19.60 $13.00
19 Nehro $8.80 $6.40
13 Mucho Macho Man $7.00

$2 Exacta $329.80
$1 Superfecta $24,063.00
$1 Trifecta $1,976.20