Kentucky Derby win fulfill's Orb trainer's lifelong dream
LOUISVILLE -- Orb, who was 16th in the early going and 17th after six furlongs, circled the field on the final turn and powered to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $2 million Kentucky Derby Saturday at historic Churchill Downs.
The chestnut son of Malibu Moon (hence his name) covered 1 1/4 miles on a track rated sloppy in 2:02.89 and paid $12.80 as the favorite in a field of 20 3-year-olds. He gave his trainer, Lexington, Ky., native Shug McGaughey, the victory he said he has dreamed about "all my life."
It also was the first Derby victory for jockey Joel Rosario and for co-owners/breeders Stuart S. Janney III and Ogden "Dinny"Phipps II.
Despite the sloppy track conditions, the pace was very fast and set it up for a late closer.
Palace Malice took the field through the first quarter-mile in 22.59 seconds, the half-mile in 45.33 and six furlongs in 1:09.80. He still led after a mile in 1:36.16 but was visibly tiring and ended up fading to 12th.
Normandy Invasion, who had been close to the pace the entire way, then took a brief lead, but Orb was in high gear on the outside and had advanced to fourth place, having passed 11 horses on the far turn. Orb took the lead just past mid-stretch, got a few taps of the whip from Rosario to keep his mind focused on the task at hand, then resolutely drew off.
Golden Soul, a 31-1 shot, also closed from far back (15th) to finish second, one length in front of Revolutionary, the second choice at 6-1 and one of five horses in the race trained by Todd Pletcher.
Revolutionary closed from 18th as the top three all took advantage of the killing pace. It was another head back to Normandy Invasion, the only horse who ran close to the pace to finish well.
"It's awesome," Rosario said. "To win the Derby, it's like a dream. I'm so happy for Shug McGaughey. ... I was so far behind I just let (Orb) be calm and relaxed, then I steered him to the outside because I didn't want to get blocked. He did the rest."
McGaughey, who's in the racing Hall of Fame because he had won a number of big races over the years but never laid claim to the Run for the Roses, finally saw his lifelong dream realized.
"I thought we had a big shot at the top of the stretch," McGaughey said. "Around the eighth pole I thought we could win. I've been dreaming of this all my life. It finally came true. I'm tickled to death for the Phipps and the Janneys and all the people who have been around this horse."
A crowd of 151,616 was on hand on a rainy day.
Orb, who is out of the Unbridled dam Lady Liberty, earned $1,414,800 for his victory. He's now 5-0-1 in eight starts and has earned $2,335,850. It was his fifth victory in a row and followed a victory in the Florida Derby on March 30.
