Pioneerof the Nile, Nehro and Bodemeister. Those three have two things in common, they all finished in second their respective Kentucky Derbys (to Mine That Bird, Animal Kingdom and I'll Have Another respecitvely) and all where owned by Ahmed Zagat. So close... yet so far. That was until a son of the first horse mentioned showed up last year, breaking his maiden in a G1 race (Del Mar Futurity) and followed it up with a win in the Front Runner. That was more then enough to give American Pharoah the 2yo championship.
The pressure was now on as only 1 horse since 2007 who was a Champ at 2 gone on to win the Kentucky Derby the following year (Street Sense being the other). Today, "Pharoah" became the King of the Derby with his win. Firing Line (Line of David) was second and Dortmund (Big Brown) was third. It was the third win for Victor Espinoza who likely join the Hall of Fame next year with the two locks Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra and 4th for Bob Baffert.
Now we move onto the Preakness where Pharoah will likely face the undefeated Competitive Edge (Super Saver) who won for fun today in the Pat Day Mile.
Some other thoughts:
* Boy did FL stink up the place.
* Frosted ran better then I thought
* Carpe Diem was a little disappointing, but not as disappointing as Upstart (but looks like the latter has an excuse)
* Danzig Moon is going to win the Queen's Plate (hopefully)
* Mr. Z... wasn't last like I thought he might have been
Overall not really sure what to think of this year's Derby. Maybe as the week goes on and settles in I will be able to think more about it.
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