Peter Fuller, the only owner of a Kentucky Derby winner to be disqualified after finishing first, died on Monday at the age of 89, according to multiple reports.
From 1987 to 2011, the average winning Kentucky Derby Beyer was 109. Until 2009, it was really a given that the winner had to get into that range. No more.
The race portion of the Kentucky Derby broadcast on NBC on Saturday posted a 9.0 national rating and a 20 share, according to data released by NBC on Tuesday, a slight increase over viewership data from last year’s race.
Photos from the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 5, show how the race unfolded.
It was yet another respectable effort, albeit another losing one. In the last three runnings of the Kentucky Derby, horses trained by Dale Romans have finished third (Paddy O’Prado, 2010), fourth (Shackleford, 2011), and third (Dullahan, 2012), and it’s starting to frustrate the Louisville-born trainer a little.
To many serious racing fans, the most dramatic part of the Kentucky Derby won by I'll Have Another was the performance of the loser, Bodemeister. His front-running effort was like few in the history of the race.
The screaming, shouting, and celebrating was short-lived at trainer Doug O’Neill’s stable at Betfair Hollywood Park on Saturday afternoon following the win by I’ll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby. The reality of backstretch life interfered in the moments after the race. It was time to head for the paddock to prepare another starter.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after Union Rags’s troubled and disappointing seventh-place finish in the Derby, trainer Michael Matz stood outside his barn at Churchill Downs disconsolate and frustrated while recounting the eventful trip that denied his horse any chance of giving him his second Derby win.
Less than 48 hours after his victory in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, I’ll Have Another will travel to Baltimore to begin preparations for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, on May 19 at Pimlico.
Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy came out of his 19th-place finish in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby with a chip in his left front ankle and will miss the major summer races, trainer Pat Byrne said Sunday morning.
