How the 140th Kentucky Derby unfolded Saturday, May 3, at Churchill Downs:

California Chrome breaks alertly alongside Danza, while both Wicked Strong and Commanding Curve are forced to take back from their outside posts. [Photo by John Bambury]

ELMONT, N.Y. – With two more races and glorious weather, Belmont Park posted increases in attendance and handle on Saturday, Kentucky Derby Day, compared with 2013.

All-sources handle on Belmont’s 12-race card was $14,918,258, a 7.7 percent increase from $13,854,360 last year when Belmont had only 10 races. On-track handle of $2,314,803, was up 18.2 percent from last year’s figure of $1,958,871.

Attendance was 9,609, up 5 percent from last year’s crowd of 9,151.

NYRA’s handle on Churchill’s card was $4,046,707, up 2.3 percent from last year’s total of $3,957,352.

In almost every respect but one, California Chrome’s victory in the Kentucky Derby was satisfying and heartwarming, a triumph for the little guy that fans and the media always relish.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Dance With Fate, who finished a creditable sixth in the Kentucky Derby, was to head back to California on Monday, possibly for a break before his next start.

Dance With Fate emerged from a roughly run Derby in good order, with groom Francisco Tabuyo only pointing to a small nick on one of the colt’s hind legs as evidence of the trip. Dance With Fate was shuffled around on the first turn, and then bumped later in the race.

With near-perfect weather, 164,906 packed Churchill Downs for the 140th Kentucky Derby, the second-highest attendance in Derby history. And the large throng was treated to a decisive victory from California Chrome, who spurted away from the field to score by 1 3/4 lengths as the 5-2 favorite.

Betting on the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday was down slightly from last year, while overall betting on the 13-race card rose slightly, according to a side-by-side comparison of charts of the races.

Betting on the Derby was $124.66 million, according to the chart of the race, compared with betting of $125.66 million last year, down 0.8 percent. Both races had 19-horse fields. The totals do not include the money bet in the future wagers offered by Churchill in the months leading up to the race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Jockey Victor Espinoza said that when he was a youngster growing up in Mexico, he was afraid of horses.

“Look at me now, I’ve won two Kentucky Derbies,” Espinoza said after winning the Derby on Saturday aboard the 5-2 favorite California Chrome, a horse he’s ridden to five consecutive victories for 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman.

Espinoza, who turns 42 later this month, won his first Kentucky Derby aboard longshot War Emblem for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in 2002. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jose Espinoza just couldn’t stay away.

So confident that his brother, Victor, was going to win Saturday’s 140th Kentucky Derby aboard California Chrome, Jose made plans late Friday night to attend the Derby, a race he rode in for the first – and last – time last year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the second straight year, trainer Dallas Stewart was second to one in the Kentucky Derby.

One year after finishing second to the favored Orb with 34-1 shot Golden Soul, Stewart was again second-best to the favorite, this time with 37-1 Commanding Curve, whose furious late rally in the stretch Saturday fell 1 3/4 lengths short of California Chrome in Kentucky Derby 140 at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Here are the top five finishers, with all available mutuel prices involving the 140th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs:

Top 5 order of finish, $2 mutuels
1 – California Chrome, No. 5, win $7; place, $5.60; show, $4.20
2 – Commanding Curve, No. 17, place, $31.80; show, $15.40
3 – Danza, No. 4, show, $6
4 – Wicked Strong, No. 20
5 – Samraat, No. 6

Exotic payoffs