Winning the Kentucky Derby is becoming old hat for Victor Espinoza.
"I think I'm just a lucky Mexican to win three Kentucky Derbys, and two in a row. And I'm just enjoying every moment," Espinoza said.American Pharoah, the betting favorite all week, won by one length, outracing Firing Line to the finish line in front of a record crowd at Churchill Downs in Louisville.It was no secret that Bob Baffert had brought a couple of big horses to America’s biggest race, the Kentucky Derby: Dortmund had never been beaten, and his stablemate, American Pharoah, was being compared to the great Seattle Slew. In fact, some closed their eyes and transported themselves back to 1948, when the legendary trainer Ben Jones brought a couple of iconic colts named Citation and Coaltown to Churchill Downs.
What most wanted to know, however, was which of Baffert’s two colts was better. For weeks, Baffert, the white-haired trainer, had to do something that did not come naturally: He had to dodge the question. He had to keep his own counsel.It was wise, of course the owner of Dortmund, Kaleem Shah, and the owner of American Pharoah, Ahmed Zayat, each provided Baffert with an ample number of quality horses. Why alienate one or the other? It was also necessary: Baffert was not sure.
He had kept the colts apart the past five months, with Dortmund dominating in California in three impressive victories against what was considered the stiffest competition in the land. American Pharoah, who was injured late in his 2-year-old campaign, was dispatched to Arkansas in March and April on the late side for two tuneups that looked like workouts, as he won the Rebel Stakes by six and a quarter lengths and the Arkansas Derby by eight.
Sure, American Pharoah, a son of Pioneerof the Nile, had been regarded well enough early in his career that he was voted the 2-year-old champion even though he missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But over the past few weeks here, as Baffert heard a couple of Hall of Fame trainers, D. Wayne Lukas and Bill Mott, tell him he had a special horse on his hands, he wondered.
Ben Jones. Seattle Slew. Triple Crown.
“I hope they are right,” Baffert said he thought as his stomach pulled tighter in knots.Besides, there were 16 other horses in this 141st edition of the Derby, and as a group, this bunch was considered the deepest and most talented in decades. The Florida Derby champion Materiality was undefeated. Frosted had looked like a worldbeater in winning the Wood Memorial. Mubtaahij had come from Dubai as the winner of four of the five races he had run on dirt.
Then there was the Sunland Derby victor Firing Line, who had twice looked Dortmund in the eye in the stretch only to come up a head short.But as the gate opened and Dortmund, followed by Firing Line, passed the grandstand, the record announced crowd of 170,513 knew that it would quickly find out which Baffert colt was better on this day. As they glided into the first turn with Dortmund hugging the rail, Firing Line behind and outside in his jet stream, and American Pharoah loping effortlessly in their shadow, Baffert was at peace.
“It was our Derby to lose,” he said.Martin Garcia had Dortmund clipping along at a comfortable pace, hitting quarter poles as if time by a metronome, a half-mile in 47.34 seconds, three-quarters in 1 minute 11.29 seconds. It was clear halfway down the backstretch that only three horses mattered in this race. Dortmund, Firing Line and American Pharoah were on a conveyor belt, and the rest of the field was struggling to keep up.
Gary Stevens, aboard Firing Line, chased Dortmund in the far turn. Stevens, 52, had been coming here for 30 years, winning on the first Saturday in May three times. He had a plan. In their previous meeting, in the Robert B. Lewis, Firing Line passed Dortmund in the stretch but was quickly reeled in.
“Dortmund is like Silver Charm and likes a fight,” Stevens said, referring to the colt he rode to victory in the 1997 Derby. “I moved too early.”He was not going to make the same mistake.As they turned for home, Dortmund cut the corner first. Firing Line moved to the middle of the track, and Victor Espinoza, aboard American Pharoah, chose the wide route.Stevens and Firing Line hooked Dortmund first. They matched strides for 10, 20, 30 yards and then, as if Stevens hit a booster, Firing Line vaulted by for good.
“He was on it,” Stevens said. “Coming for home, I thought I might get there.”Espinoza moved American Pharoah closer to Firing Line, shaking up his reins, making up ground by inches rather than yards.
“That other horse was tough,” Espinoza said. “He wasn’t going away.”He crossed his reins, started fanning his whip. “He had never been tested, and I had to ride him hard,” Espinoza said.Finally, with a sixteenth of a mile to the wire, Firing Line buckled. American Pharoah hit the line a length ahead of Firing Line, and Dortmund was two behind in third. Baffert did not match Jones’s 1-2 finish with Citation and Coaltown, but he came close.
American Pharoah completed the mile and a quarter in 2:03.02 and paid $7.80 on a $2 bet to win.
For Espinoza, it was his third Derby victory and his second in a row. He was aboard California Chrome last year.Now everyone had the answer: American Pharoah was the bigger of Baffert’s two big horses. It was Dortmund’s first loss, but he had been dead game.
“He was tough,” Baffert said. “I’m proud of him.”American Pharoah was something else altogether, something that may transcend a single race. He was as good as Lukas and Mott had said, a colt worthy of reviving Triple Crown hopes.Baffert had been to the most hallowed winner’s circle in American racing three times previously, with War Emblem, Real Quiet and Silver Charm. Each went to Belmont Park with a shot of becoming the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978. All fell short.Maybe Baffert has another shot. Maybe American Pharoah is the one to complete the sweep.
“There’s a lot of positive energy on this horse,” Baffert said. “There’s a certain aura about him. He’s caught people’s attention.”
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