Derby Results

Did anyone watch the Derby? It was awesome. A likkle colt, California Chrome, won, but I won't go through the race. Watch it for yourself cause it's only two minutes in length. Exact time was...uh, 3:03.66(?), I think.

So there.

The Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is the first race in a series of races for three year-old thoroughbreds across the world (Of course, since it's obviously held in Kentucky, USA, most contestants are from the US...).

Anyways, the first five winners are as follows:

• Aristides (1875)
• Vagrant (1876)
• Baden-Baden (1877)
• Day Star (1878)
• Lord Murphy (1879)

And the last five winners:

• Mine That Bird ('09)
• Super Saver ('10)
• Animal Kingdom ('11)
• I'll Have Another ('12)
• Orb ('13) 

Only three fillies have won the Derby:

• Regret (1915)
• Genuine Risk (1970)
• Winning Colors (1978)

This year, hundreds of horses struggle for the prestigious twenty spots in the starting gate on Derby day with prep-races. These are including but not limited to: The Louisiana Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Florida Derby. There are a bunch of others which I'm not going to list here.

I don't really want to go over the customs at Churchill Downs (where the race is run) on Derby Day, but I will take a moment to mention a couple of the most prominent. The Mint Julep is the traditional Derby drink (although you probably wouldn't want one of those cause they're alcoholic). Then there's the singing of My Old Kentucky Home as the horses go to the post.

And finally, all the training of three years is utilized in two intense minutes of mounding hooves and plunging horseflesh. Riders straining for a stab at making history. And in the end, there's only one winner. And the rest of the field? They've lost their chance. Never again will it be the first Saturday in May while they're three years old. Never again will they race in the Kentucky Derby.

And that about wraps up this post. Sorry about the kind of abrupt ending. I have issues with endings, okay?

Triple Crown!

You guys have no idea how long I've waited to make a post on this subject. *happysquealybounceoffwall*

Okay, first, what is the Triple Crown? It is a series of prestigious races, known around the world, for three year-old thoroughbred horses: The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, abbreviated to the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont.

Only eleven of the horses who ran in the Derbies since 1875 have been given this honor:

• Sir Barton (1919)
• Gallant Fox (1930)
• Omaha (1935)
• War Admiral (1937)
• Whirlaway (1941)
• Count Fleet (1943)
• Assault (1946)
• Citation (1948)
• Secretariat (1973)
• Seattle Slew (1977)
• Affirmed (1978)

And I've been waiting in desperate hope for one a Triple Crown winner to make history in my lifetime...but alas, as of yet, no such luck.

There have been a number of horses who have won the Derby and Preakness only to come up short in the Belmont-the hardest, longest, most grueling leg of the races at 1 1/2 miles. And here is the list of horses who have done just that:

• Pensive (1944): second to Bounding Home
• Tim Tam (1958): second to Cavan
• Carry Back (1961): seventh to Sherluck
• Northern Dancer (1964): third to Quadrangle
• Kauai King (1966): fourth to Amberoid
• Forward Pass (1968): second to Stage Door Johnny
• Majestic Prince (1969): second to Arts and Letters
• Canonero II (1971): fourth to Pass Catcher
• Spectacular Bid (1979): third to Coastal
• Pleasant Colony (1980): third to Summing
• Alysheba (1987): fourth to Bet Twice
• Sunday Silence (1989): second to Easy Goer
• Silver Charm (1997): second to Touch Gold
• Real Quiet (1998): second to Victory Gallop
• Charismatic (1999): third to Lemon Drop Kid
• War Emblem (2002): eighth to Sarava
• Funny Cide (2003): third to Empire Maker
• Smarty Jones (2004): second to Birdstone
• Big Brown (2008): Did Not Finish to Da' Tara
• I'll Have Another (2012): Did Not Start to Union Rags

Perhaps the most devastating one of these for me was the 2012 run for the crown. The world watched as I'll Have Another overtook Bodemeister in the final lengths of the Derby to make history, than again in the Preakness. I'm usually quiet and reserved (Hard to believe, eh?), but after the Preakness, I was screaming with joy. For the first time since I'd started following thoroughbred racing, the Crown was still in sight.

Then, on the day of the Belmont, my friend was coming over to watch it with me, and her Dad comes up and says, "It's too bad that horse was scratched." (Insert sniff here.) Turns out, he had a hoof/lower leg problem, and his racing career ended. Too bad.

So this year, starting that first Saturday in May, I'll be watching again. Waiting again. Hoping again.

Well, that's a long post. Thanks for reading. Poke me if I need to cut down on the information amount...I didn't think there was too much, but...

Information from Two Minutes to Glory, Top 10 Kentucky Derbies, and Wikipedia: The Thoroughbred Triple Crown