Four weeks and six days after I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Kentucky Derby at odds of 15-1, his date with Triple Crown destiny came to an abrupt end when the horse, who also won the Preakness, had to be scratched from the Belmont Stakes due to a career-ending tendon injury. Doug O’Neill, the trainer of I’ll Have Another, remembers calling Paul Reddam to convey the news. “That’s gotta be a top 10 or bottom 10 phone call ever,” O’Neill said. “On the other side of the phone you had him so bummed for the groom, the exercise, rider the staff. . . . I was like, ‘Wow, who talks like that?’ He made you just start appreciating everything the horse had done and don’t worry what’s in the future.” What was in the future for O’Neill and Reddam was a second Kentucky Derby four years later, when Nyquist, the 2-1 favorite in a field of 20, pressed a hot pace and went on to win the 2016 Derby by 1 1/4 lengths. At the time, Nyquist became just the fourth undefeated winner of the Kentucky Derby since Seattle Slew in 1977 – Smarty Jones (2004), Barbaro (2006), and Big Brown (2008) also accomplished that feat. “When I’ll Have Another was scratched the day before the Belmont, people were saying to me, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll get another chance,’ ” Reddam recalled. “I said, ‘Are you crazy? You don’t understand how rare a feat it is winning the Derby.’ :: DRF's Derby Watch Top 20 | Who's hot, who's not | Pedigree profile: PAVLOVIAN “The fact we had a second chance, a realistic chance, of winning was pretty amazing.” Pundits may debate how realistic a chance Pavlovian, winner of the Sunland Park Derby and runner-up in the Louisiana Derby, has in this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 2. But it would be amazing if O’Neill and Reddam were to team up and win the race a third time. Only three owners – Calumet Farm (8), Col. E.R. Bradley (4), and Belair Stud (3) have won more than two Derbies. Six trainers have won more than two Derbies. “The thing about the Derby is you can’t buy it,” said Reddam, 68. “You can spend many, many millions of dollars; it happens to you, you can’t make it happen. You put yourself in the position where you have a chance. So many things can go wrong. The best horse doesn’t necessarily win.” Reddam purchased I’ll Have Another at auction for $35,000. He paid $400,000 for Nyquist. Pavlovian is a California homebred, a mating between Reddam campaigners Pavel, a Grade 1 winner who earned $2 million, and the mare Mandy’s Grace, who won a maiden $30,000 claimer from three starts. Reddam said he recently watched a video analyzing Pavlovian’s pedigree and remembers the analyst calling it “a clever” mating. “I’m thinking that’s really nice, but we all throw it against the wall and whatever sticks, sticks,” Reddam said. “It was like we were geniuses and really it was ‘We got a stallion, we got a mare, let’s put them together.’ ” Reddam and O’Neill first got together in 2004, when Mark Schlesinger, an owner of O’Neill’s, claimed a horse, Waki American, and asked Reddam if he wanted a piece. Reddam did. What happened after that started a 22-year-long run between Reddam and O’Neill. “Doug started calling me daily reporting on the condition of the horse,” said Reddam, who had already been in the game several years. “I thought, this is really nice, I don’t [typically] get this kind of communication. This guy is really on top of it.” About two months after that claim, O’Neill mentioned to Reddam that his brother Dennis, a bloodstock agent, had brokered a deal to privately purchase a 2-year-old filly named Sharp Lisa. He asked Reddam if he wanted in. Reddam bought a piece and Sharp Lisa became a Grade 1 winner. Over the years, there have been other graded winners for the two, such as Pavel, Irap, Slow Down Andy, and Handsome Mike. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. “Obviously, over the years, like any relationship it has its ups and downs,” Reddam said. “He’s a funny guy, jovial guy, but when it’s game time, an important race, his record speaks for itself. He’s been on a roll this year.” Speaking of his relationship with Reddam, O’Neill, 57, said, “Paul has that ability to kind of see the good in everything and focus on that and just keep reminding you to work hard, stay focused, and if it’s meant to be good things are going to happen. “He makes the journey with a good horse as relaxed as it possibly could be. You look back to the I’ll Have Another situation, Paul handled that with as much class and as great as any human being could.” O’Neill and Reddam brought Great Hunter and Liquidity to the 2007 Derby, where they finished 13th and 14th. Since their two Derby victories, O’Neill and Reddam have only been back in the Derby together with Irap, who finished 18th in 2017. That they are here with Pavlovian is a surprise to both men. Pavlovian began his career in a 4 1/2-furlong California-bred race at Santa Anita where he finished second. He won his second start, also against Cal-breds, going five furlongs in June. Myriad troubled trips, many made by his own doing, led to six consecutive losses. Pavlovian, who will bring a 10-race résumé into the Derby, had gate issues in many of his races. In the Cal Cup Derby, he broke inward and bumped with another horse and was last early on. He rallied with late interest to finish third. Though Reddam doesn’t remember it this way, O’Neill credits him with suggesting to run Pavlovian in the Sunland Park Derby. O’Neill had previously won the race three times, including with the Reddam-owned Slow Down Andy in 2022. O’Neill, who had taken blinkers off Pavlovian for two races in December, put them back on for the Sunland Derby. Breaking cleaner in that Febrauary race under Edwin Maldonado, Pavlovian pressed the pace set by Express Kid and was eventually able to wear that rival down and win by a nose. Five weeks later, in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby – Reddam takes credit for selecting this race – Pavlovian set a strong pace under Maldonado and fought on when challenged by Emerging Market, before ultimately falling a head short to that rival. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Strategies by Marcus Hersh and David Aragona. Full analysis and wager recommendations! O’Neill acknowledged that Maldonado may not have been his first choice to ride Pavlovian, but he now believes he’s the right choice. “Edwin could not fit a horse better than he fits Pavlovian because Pavlovian is a big strong horse, not super good out of the gate and we put the blinkers back on him, Edwin on him, and all of a sudden he’s showing normal speed out of the gate and he’s putting himself in a good spot,” O’Neill said. “We always knew he had the stamina and the grit, but he’d get himself too far back and he’d make a little mid-race move and then he couldn’t sustain it. But we’ve seen a different version of Pavlovian that is going to be needed to win something like the Derby.” O’Neill and Reddam have already proven they know how to win the Derby. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Clocker Reports by Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team