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The Kentucky Derby; the best two minutes in sports returns this Saturday!
Victor Espinoza is going for the jockey Trip Crown with Whitmore. Espinoza won in 2014 with California Chrome and in 2015 with the first Triple-Crown winner in 37 years; American Pharoah.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has Mor Spirit in this year’s Run of the Roses, another horse like Pharoah with a misspelled name. Baffert is still living in the glory of American Pharoah, but he knows it all ends when a new Derby winner in crowned on Saturday. For the 17th time in Baffert’s career he will try to win his 5th Kentucky Derby.
He has never been worse than second in his seven career race starts. Mor Spirit has previously matched up with some of his Derby competition by finishing second to Exaggerator in the Santa Anita Derby and finished second to Danzing Candy in the San Felipe in his last two race starts.
Nyquist has emerged as a clear Derby favorite finishing first in the Florida Derby while Mohaymen disappointed and fell to 4th place. Nyquist is 7-for-7 in his career with a resume of wins in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and he crushed the field at the Florida Derby and the San Vicente Stakes. Nyquist’s jockey, Mario Gutierrez, won the Derby on I’ll Have Another in 2012, who had the same owners (Paul and Zillah Reddam) and with the same trainer (Doug O’Neill) as Nyquist.
I don’t spend a lot of time watching horse racing outside of the Triple Crown races, but the two things I do know about thoroughbred racing is that you need a lot of luck and your name to be Bob. The connection with “Bob” is that Bob’s spend a lot, A LOT of time at the track and find a lot of four leaf clovers. They are just better when it comes to horse racing. So I’m rooting against the favorite and cheering on Mor Spirit!
While no horse has ever won the Kentucky Derby from post 17, where Mor Spirit landed. Baffert said “We’ll just have to make history again this year”