Animal Kingdom

20-1 shot Animal Kingdom wins Kentucky Derby | Horse racing
By The Associated Press and The New York Times


LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jockey John Velazquez won the 137th Kentucky Derby by a broken nose.

An injury to Animal Kingdom's regular rider, Robby Albarado, cleared the way for Velazquez to pick up the mount on the 20-1 shot. Once he took the reins Saturday, he rode his good luck to the winner's circle before a record Churchill Downs crowd of 164,858.

"For once, I'm on the good end of it," Velazquez said. "All of a sudden I pick up this one and he wins the Derby, so it was meant to be."

Animal Kingdom finished 2 ¾ lengths ahead of 8-1 shot Nehro in the $2,171,800 Derby. The Graham Motion-trained colt ran 1 ¼ miles in 2 minutes, 2.04 seconds and returned $43.80 on a $2 win bet.

The last three years, New York-based jockey Velazquez came to Kentucky ready to ride a leading 3-year-old, only to have it withdrawn from the Grade I Derby.

This year, he was supposed to be aboard early second choice Uncle Mo. But last year's North American champion 2-year-old male was scratched Friday because of a lingering stomach problem.

Velazquez is used to such misfortune. He was supposed to ride high-profile runners Eskendereya in last year's Derby and Quality Road in 2009; because of health issues, neither competed.

Albarado lost the mount on Animal Kingdom after breaking his nose Wednesday when he was thrown off a horse and kicked in the face before a race.

"It's words that you can't describe," Velazquez said of his first Derby victory in 13 tries. "But I do feel really bad for Robby.

" I hope he's winning the Derby with me here. I know he got hurt, so this is for both of us, buddy. I know you're not on it, but I know you're with me."

Animal Kingdom is owned by Team Valor International, a partnership syndicate headed by Barry Irwin, a former Daily Racing Form writer. When Albarado took Friday off to recuperate, Irwin decided to make the switch to Velazquez.

"I'm not happy," Albarado said. "Barry Irwin decided he didn't think I was fit to ride; he didn't know my status or situation. This just wasn't my time today."

Most observers thought Motion's top Derby prospect was Wood Memorial winner Toby's Corner, who didn't make the trip to Louisville because of a leg injury.

The Derby was Animal Kingdom's first race on dirt. Of his previous four starts, three were on synthetic surfaces and one was on turf.

"Somebody said, 'Are you surprised to win with a second-tier horse?' " Motion said. "I said, 'I'm not sure we would categorize him as a second-tier horse.' He's been an extraordinary horse to train. I was so impressed with how he handled everything."

With a quarter-mile to run, Animal Kingdom was in fifth. He powered past Pants On Fire, Comma to the Top, Shackleford and Nehro.

"Right about the quarter pole, he got really comfortable as soon as he got to the clear," Velazquez said. "He gave me that feeling that, man, he was running. He got to the lead and kept running."

Velazquez downplayed his role in Animal Kingdom's success.

"I didn't have to do very much," he said. "He was going well the whole way around, so he gave me a lot of confidence to be where I was — and when I asked him to do something, he was there for me. A good horse gets you out of trouble."

Nehro has finished second in all three of his stakes races.

"The little horse ran unbelievable," said Steve Asmussen, who trains Nehro. "I'm very proud of him."

Archarcharch had his saddle slip entering the backstretch, finished 15th of 19 and was vanned off the track.

The Arkansas Derby winner has a fracture to his left-front leg, but on-call veterinarian Larry Bramlage said it was not a life-threatening injury.

"He's in no distress at all," Bramlage said. "He walked right on the ambulance. He was lame when he pulled up but it wasn't a situation where he was in that much trouble."

Bramlage said the colt will require surgery but "it is not an emergency situation."

Notes

• Mucho Macho Man, trained by Kathy Ritvo, rallied for third at 9-1. "He was fabulous today," said Ritvo, who nearly died from heart disease before receiving a heart transplant in November 2008. "It went just the way we thought it would. He gave it his all."

The lone woman to train a Derby horse who finished better than third is Shelley Riley, who sent out 1992 runner-up Casual Lies.

• Jockey Rosie Napravnik was ninth aboard 8-1 shot Pants On Fire — the best finish by a female rider in the Derby, surpassing 11th-place finishes by Patricia Cooksey (in 1984 aboard So Vague) and Hall of Famer Julie Krone (in 1995 with Suave Prospect).

"I couldn't have wished for a better trip," Napravnik said.

• Dialed In, a 5-1 favorite, was last for much of the race and finished eighth. He is trained by Nick Zito, who has saddled two Derby winners.

• Last-place finisher Comma to the Top came out of the race with chip fracture of an ankle and reportedly will be out for more than two months.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2014994975_derby08.html

Fittingly, Animal Kingdom prevails in wide-open Kentucky Derby

Five things we learned from a wild and wide-open Kentucky Derby ...

1. The 2011 Derby was anybody's race, and anybody won it. This should come as no surprise. Talented colts began dropping out of the 3-year-old division before the spring even began (Jaycito, Premiere Pegasus) and kept falling away right into Derby week itself (Toby's Corner, Uncle Mo). By the time the Call to the Post sounded at Churchill Downs on Saturday, the Derby field was one of the least accomplished in recent memory, if not in more than a generation. Race winner Animal Kingdom came to Louisville as something of an unknown quantity, with four career starts and no victories on dirt. How would he handle the dirt surface at Churchill? Nobody had any idea -- which is why he paid a handsome $43.80 for the win.

2. Animal Kingdom should not be underestimated. Because of the middling group of rivals he defeated, there may be a tendency to discount Animal Kingdom's victory. That would be a mistake. The chestnut colt has improved in each of his four career starts, the last of which was a 2 ¼-length win in the Spiral Stakes on March 23 at Turfway Park (where the main-track surface is the synthetic dirt known as Polytrack). He's modestly bred, with the pedigree of a turf runner, which in plain English means he should be able to run all day long.

But what Animal Kingdom showed in Louisville was a good bit of natural speed and a nifty turn of foot. He broke from the gate comfortably and moved through the first quarter mile without being troubled, in part because jockey John Velazquez kept him wide down the lane before settling in three-wide on the clubhouse turn. Animal Kingdom stayed where he was down the backstretch, riding in the middle of the pack and never falling too far behind, before starting his move on the turn for home. In a nifty bit of riding, Velazquez sent the colt through a narrow gap between horses before swinging him to the outside again. Animal Kingdom came off the turn for home in the middle of the track with nothing in front of him but open track, and he inhaled the leaders in a matter of strides, pulling away as he hit the wire.

Animal Kingdom has the speed and the stamina to be competitive in both of the final two races of the Triple Crown series, and he's clearly peaking at the right time. He's not an unknown quantity anymore and should be considered a major threat at the Preakness on May 21.

3. Graham Motion is a name you should know. Over the years, the Kentucky Derby has been a place where trainers who toil for most of their careers in obscurity can become household names -- D. Wayne Lukas, Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher for example. The decidedly conservative Motion may never belong in that flashy company, and that's probably OK with him. Nevertheless, he deserves to be recognized as one of the best horsemen in the game.

Motion grew up on a stud farm just 10 miles from the English racing mecca of Newmarket, which has a famous racecourse of its own. With a training operation based in Elkton, Md., he has earned a reputation as a sober, judicious strategist -- Animal Kingdom's light career workload is a testament to how cautious Motion can be with his horses. Unlike many of his peers, he insists on resting his horses when they're hurt, rather than using medication to get them to the post -- he's been described in the press as the "anti-Dutrow," a reference to flamboyant trainer Richard Dutrow, who won the 2008 Derby and Preakness with Big Brown while boasting of his reliance on equine pharmaceuticals. The proof of Motion's training acumen can be seen in his more than 1,000 career victories.

Motion's big horse for the Derby was Toby's Corner, the surprise winner of last month's Wood Memorial. But the horse scratched early in the week due to an unspecified injury.

4. What happened to Robby Albarado is a glimpse into the life of a jockey. Save for a few select cases, jockeys do not sign contracts with owners or trainers. They are independent contractors and live race to race. The good riders are in great demand and get lots of mounts; the bad riders get whatever is left over. A jockey is only as good as his last race. Lose a couple of starts, or even just one, and you can get fired. Same thing if you get hurt before the biggest race of the year.

Such is the case with Robby Albarado, one of the finest jockeys in American racing, who fell from a mount and fractured his nose at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. He took Thursday and Friday off, and that was enough for Motion and Barry Irwin, the president of the Team Valor syndicate that owns Animal Kingdom, to replace him with John Velazquez, who became available after his mount, 2-year-old champion Uncle Mo, had scratched from the Derby earlier that morning.

"It was a tough call because I really like Robby," said Irwin after the race. "But this horse has 20 partners. There's a lot invested. And it turned out to be the right thing to do."

5. Even a wide-open, undistinguished field could not diminish the Derby. The Kentucky Derby is the world's greatest horse race and has been for many years. There was no big favorite running on Saturday, and no giant gate attraction. But the weather was beautiful, and a record crowd of 164,858 showed up anyway. Quite a tribute to the most thrilling two minutes in sports.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/mark_beech/05/07/kentucky.derby.five.things/index.html#ixzz1Lj6jtrvM


Animal Kingdom won 137th Kentucky Derby in front of biggest crowd ever?

Sports History!

Animal Kingdom won the 137th Kentucky Derby in front of the biggest crowd at famous horse race ever?

[May 7]

Here’s a bit of horse-play sports history trivia for you. The latest celebrity pet to make headline news is a horse called Animal Kingdom. Going off at 20 to 1 odds, the beautiful animal ran his first big race on a dirt track to win the 137th Kentucky Derby. And guess what? Apparently the majestic equine champion has no fear of crowds, as the 2011 Kentucky Derby has the most guests watching the race that they have ever had at the Southern event.

Vancouver Sun reports:

In his first race on a dirt surface, Animal Kingdom roared from the pack to capture the 137th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

A 20-1 choice ridden by John Velazquez, who lost his ride on Uncle Mo on Friday when the horse was scratched, Animal Kingdom chased down Shackleford, who led almost the entire race. Animal Kingdom is trained by Graham Motion, who is based in Fair Hill, Md. Nehro also made a run, but finished second. Mucho Macho Man was third. Shackleford faded to fourth.

[Betters found out] Animal Kingdom paid $43.80, $19.60 and $13 on a $2 bet. Nehro returned $8.80 and $6.40. Mucho Macho Man paid $7.

The largest crowd in the history of the event, 164,858, packed Churchill Downs to watch as the best 3-year-olds in the world competed for the blanket of roses. Despite the fact that the race didn’t have an overwhelming favorite, it had no shortage of compelling story lines.

Whether or not you like horse racing as a sport or tradition, one thing is certain — the animals whose hearts pump 75 gallons of blood per minute when they are running are impressive. Even more impressive than the spectacle of so many women wearing outlandish Kentucky Derby hats, more grand an glorious than those seen at the Royal Wedding this year.
People magazine reports, “Although he’s only run on the turf and synthetics … he’s probably one of the most impressive work horses I’ve ever had,” trainer Graham Motion said in interviews before the race. “In fact, Animal Kingdom was impressive enough to beat Rosie Napravnik on her horse, Pants on Fire. If she won, Napravnik would have become the first female rider to earn a victory in the Derby’s 137-year history.”

http://greencelebrity.net/2011/05/07/animal-kingdom-won-137th-kentucky-derby-in-front-of-biggest-crowd-ever/

Animal Kingdom wins Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — John Velazquez won the Kentucky Derby by a broken nose.

An injury to Animal Kingdom's regular rider, Robby Albarado, cleared the way for Velazquez to pick up the mount on the 20-1 long shot. Once he took the reins Saturday, he rode his good luck all the way to the winner's circle.

"For once, I'm on the good end of it," Velazquez said. "All of a sudden I pick up this one and he wins the Derby, so it was meant to be."

The last three years, the New York-based jockey came to Churchill Downs with a colt considered a leading contender, only to have it withdrawn.

This time, he was supposed to ride early second choice Uncle Mo before the colt was scratched due to a lingering stomach problem. Then Albarado broke his nose when he was thrown off his horse and kicked in the face before a race three days ago.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Animal Kingdom, who had never raced on dirt before, reacted to his new rider the way a champion should, charging down the middle of the stretch to win by 2¾ lengths in front of a crowd of 164,858, the largest in Derby history.

He ran 1¼ miles in 2:02.04 — well off Secretariat's track record of 1:59.40 in 1973 — and paid $43.80, $19.60 and $13.

Nehro returned $8.80 and $6.40, while Mucho Macho Man was another neck back in third and paid $7 to show.

"It's words that you can't describe," Velazquez said. "But I do really feel really bad for Robby. I hope he's winning the Derby with me here. I know he got hurt, so this is for both of us, buddy. I know you're not on it, but I know you're with me."

Well, not exactly.

"I'm not happy," said Albarado, despite winning a $345,600 stakes race on the Derby undercard. "Barry Irwin decided he didn't think I was fit to ride; he didn't know my status or situation. This just wasn't my time today."

Animal Kingdom is owned by Team Valor International, a partnership syndicate headed by Irwin, a former writer for the Daily Racing Form, the industry's bible.

Irwin decided to switch riders when Albarado took Friday off to recuperate.

"It was a tough call because I really like Robby. He's won a lot of races for us, but we got 20 partners in this horse," Irwin said. "We got a large investment and I had to do what I thought was best for the partnership."

Like Velazquez, Irwin said he would make it up to Albarado.

Like his jockey, trainer Graham Motion got lucky, too.

His top Derby horse, Wood Memorial winner Toby's Corner, never even made it to Louisville. He had a leg injury and never left Motion's barn in Maryland.

"Somebody said, 'Are you surprised to win with a second-tier horse?'" Motion said. "I said, 'I'm not sure we would categorize him as a second-tier horse.' He's been an extraordinary horse to train. I was so impressed with how he handled everything."

Dialed In went off as the 5-1 favorite for two-time Derby-winning trainer Nick Zito, but finished eighth.

Mucho Macho Man's finish for Kathy Ritvo tied her for second-best result by a female trainer in the 137-year-old race. Shelley Riley saddled Casual Lies to a second-place finish in 1992.

Rosie Napravnik was ninth aboard 8-1 second choice Pants On Fire in her bid to become the first female jockey to win. Still, her finish was the highest of the six women who've ridden in the Derby.

"I couldn't have wished for a better trip," she said.

Neither could Velazquez. The day was clearly his after going 0-for-12 in previous Derby tries.

"It was a loss for Robby, obviously, having the accident he had, and a win for me," Velazquez said. "Obviously, it turned out to be a great thing for myself."

Animal Kingdom won the Spiral Stakes on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park in his previous start. Though this was his first race on dirt, the winner had an easy trip, and Velazquez did a masterful job despite his unfamiliarity with the horse. They avoided trouble in the 19-horse field while running in the middle of the pack most of the way.

"Right about the quarter-pole he got really comfortable as soon as he got to the clear," Velazquez said. "He gave me that feeling that, man, he was running. He got to the lead and kept running. So very proud of the way he did everything."

Animal Kingdom swept past the leaders on the final turn and came flying home.

"I didn't have to do very much," Velazquez said. "He was going well the whole way around, so he gave me a lot of confidence to be where I was and when I asked him to do something he was there for me. A good horse gets you out of trouble."

Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch, who started from the inside rail, was vanned off the track with a leg injury and will need surgery for a non-life-threatening fracture.

Pacesetter Shackleford was fourth, followed by Irish import Master of Hounds, Santiva, Brilliant Speed and Dialed In.

Pants On Fire finished ninth, followed by Twice the Appeal, Soldat, Stay Thirsty, Derby Kitten, Decisive Moment, Archarcharch, Midnight Interlude, Twinspired, Watch Me Go and Comma to the Top, who chipped his left ankle and will be sidelined for at least two months.

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/sports/article/Animal-Kingdom-wins-Kentucky-Derby-1370485.php#ixzz1LjAioSKG