Post-race interviews in the Triple Crown races rarely deviate from the usual clichés, and it is safe to say that there had never been a reference in the winner's circle to the author of "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus."

But as owner Paul Reddam accepted the trophy for the 2012 Kentucky Derby, NBC's Bob Costas asked him: "As a former philosophy professor at USC, which of the great philosophers summed up a day like this best?"

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the 2012 Kentucky Derby was neither I’ll Have Another’s victory at 15-1, nor Bodemister’s dazzling attempt to wire the field, but that betting on the race soared nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

There is plenty of evidence, both eyewitness and digital, attesting to the fact that the chestnut colt I’ll Have Another finished first in the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs last weekend, finding himself clear of his 19 opponents at the end of the mile and a quarter and officially 1 1/2 lengths in front of the horse who finished second.

Yes, that was some kind of smoke belching from a garage nestled beneath the intersection of the 210 and 605 freeways one evening late last December in the little town of Duarte, just down the road from Santa Anita Park. Car fire? Nope. Hooch still? Not hardly. It was just another one of those come-as-you-are racetrack barbecues, this one in honor of Cousin Mike’s birthday thrown by Mike’s Big Uncle Ivan and his pal, Lalo the Mechanic.

When jockey Mario Gutierrez won the Kentucky Derby aboard I’ll Have Another, his triumph was the sort that usually happens only in corny racing fiction. Casual fans surely appreciated his saga, though they may not have recognized the other main story line of the Derby.

I have no quarrel with those who say this is an unusually wide-open Kentucky Derby, with a dozen legitimate candidates to win the roses and a history of extremely close finishes among them. Two of them, however, stand out to me, and while I'd like to be more imaginative than ending up with the two favorites, that's who I've got.

To anyone who calls himself a speed handicapper, there should be no doubt about the identity of the best colt in the Kentucky Derby. When Bodemeister won his final prep race, the Arkansas Derby, he appeared to be in a class by himself.

LAS VEGAS – Bodemeister opened as the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 138th running of the Kentucky Derby, and a check of early betting on offshore websites shows that might end up being the case, but Nevada race books still consider Union Rags as the betting favorite as far as their future books are concerned.

At both Wynn Las Vegas and the Lucky’s Race & Sports Books, Union Rags closed as the 7-2 favorite when advanced parimutuel wagering was to open Thursday morning with Bodemeister the 4-1 second choice.

Of the 20 riders in the starting gate for the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, perched on thin stirrups and grabbing mane, only four of them know what it’s like to win the whole ball of wax.

For the rest such a moment is only a dream, elusive as perfection. There is only one Kentucky Derby each year and only so many years in a career that could end at any moment, accompanied by the sound of a clipped heel and the feel of hard, rising ground.

There is a filly on the also-eligible list for Friday’s $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs named Oaks Lily. Don’t ask what her owners were thinking. It’s pretty obvious, and good for them. Every actor fights the temptation to name their son Oscar, their daughter Emmy, and their Irish setter Golden Globe.