The two most exciting minutes of the year happen today.
That's approximately how long it will take a field of 19 three-year-old thoroughbred horses to run a mile and a quarter at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
California Chrome is the overwhelming (5-2) favorite. He bids to become the first California horse to win since Decidedly in 1962, and would be only the third ever.
Wicked Strong would have been closer in the betting, but he drew the 19th position. Only Big Brown, in 2008, has ever won the Derby from the outside post. A curiosity to watch: next to Wicked Strong will be Ride On Curlin, son of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin, with Calvin Borel up. The Creative Cajun, who was the winning jockey in 2007, 2009, and 2010 (and the jockey of the superb filly Rachel Alexandra), is legendary for preferring to ride inside, next to the rail. It'll be interesting to see if, and if so how, "Bo'rail" will manage that this year.
[Illustration: Can't post it here, but check out Rick Samuels' magnificent picture for Blood Horse of Orb winning in the mud last year. (At the link, click "Open Photo Viewer" to see it larger.) Orb now stands at stud at Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky, where he will be bred to 105 mares this year, for a fee of $25,000 for a live foal.]
The big show is on NBC, starting at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Post time is 6:24 ET.
It is, among other things, the easiest major sports event in the world to watch: no special expertise is required to understand a race, and ~two minutes is unlikely to overload even the most challenged attention span.
Be there!
Mike
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In Baltimore, we of course prefer the Preakness Stakes, started two years before that newfangled Derby!
Posted by: Jeff | Saturday, 03 May 2014 at 05:17 PM
Funny, it's Derby Day (Sunday) here in Perth, Western Australia too. It refers to any clash between the two Perth Australian Football League (AFL) teams, The Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles.
It's a particularly important game for one team because if they lose, they slip way down the 12 team ladder. Which team? I dunno, I don't follow that closely.
If you've never watched Australian Rules football, I urge you to give it a try. It really is a great, fast paced, spectacular game. None of those huddles and scrums, it just keeps playing on, non-stop. Look here: http://www.vipboxoc.co/aussie-rules/224989/1/west-coast-eagles-vs-fremantle-dockers-live-stream-online.html
Btw, I'm sick of spelling out Western Australia every time. It's WA, OK?
Posted by: Peter Croft | Sunday, 04 May 2014 at 02:58 AM
A dog fight caused me to missed the Derby this year.
I live in central Kentucky, but I have never attended the Derby. I have attended many a Derby part (sans celebrities, of course) and have always watched the Derby race on TV.
This year, however, my two dogs tangled for some reason, and both were bloodied when they were separated. One dog's injuries warranted a trip to the animal ER. We made it back 2 hours, $163 and one missed horse raced later.
My suggestion to trade these dogs for a goat gained no traction despite this latest episode. So I get to keep mowing the grass and keeping the dogs separated.
Posted by: JackS | Sunday, 04 May 2014 at 01:31 PM
Well, California Chrome turned in an impressive win, but the time of the race was really s-l-o-w.
Generally speaking, race time doesn't mean a lot, but, just to put this Derby finish in perspective, consider this: Monarchos (the Derby winner in 2001) would have finished about 17 lengths in front of CA Chrome, and Secretariat (the Derby winner in 1973) would have been 19 lengths ahead of him.
The track was rated fast, so such comparison is reasonable.
This kind of pace is extremely beneficial to front runners, but not likely to repeat in the Preakness, so California Chrome is not going to have that benefit in Baltimore.
It's possible (but not likely) that super filly Untapable, who won the equivalent Grade I Kentucky Oaks (the "Distaff Derby", for 3yo fillies) on Friday, might opt for the Preakness and run against the boys. She looked absolutely great in the Oaks. She won easily, against tough company, and covered that 9 furlongs (1/8th mile shorter than the Derby) in very fast (1:48 & 3/5) time. Indeed, no filly has ever won the Oaks in any faster time since that race was shifted to 9 furlongs in 1982.
I'm a bit more excited about Untapable than about California Chrome; we'll know more soon.
Posted by: Bryan Geyer | Monday, 05 May 2014 at 12:45 AM