Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigpen  Barbaro was not the favorite last year. Just an fyi. |
Yeah, you're right he was the second favorite at 6/1 as Sweetnorthernsaint was bet down from 10/1 to 5/1 late to grab that favorite role.
Louisville, Ky. (May 6, 2006) BARBARO became the second undefeated horse in three years to win the Kentucky Derby as he cruised to a 6 1/2-length win at Churchill Downs today. It was his sixth win in as many starts. Smarty Jones, the 2004 winner, went into the Derby a perfect six-for-six.
The Grade I Florida Derby winner became the first horse since 1956 to win the Derby off a five-week layoff. Needles was the last to accomplish the feat. Michael Matz, trainer of BARBARO, dealt with questions during the past week concerning the issue. It was Matz' first Derby horse.
Edgar Prado, who was aboard BARBARO during his last three starts, won his first Kentucky Derby in seven tries. Prado said after the race that his horse "was running easy" the entire race.
Sent off as the 6-1 second choice, BARBARO paid $14.20 to win, $8.00 to place and $6.00 to show. He finished the Derby in 2:01.36, the 13th-fastest running of the race.
SWEETNORTHERNSAINT, bet down to 5-1 from a 10-1 morning line, exited the starting gate the favorite. He finished seventh. It was the second straight seventh-place finish for a Derby favorite. The misfortune occurred to Bellamy Road last year.
BLUEGRASS CAT finished second at 30-1 odds and rounded out an exacta that paid $587.00 for each $2 bet. Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Ramon Dominguez, he finished a dull fourth in the Grade I Blue Grass Stakes three weeks ago.
STEPPENWOLFER, who finished second in the Grade II Arkansas Derby the same day as the Blue Grass, was third, two lengths behind BLUEGRASS CAT. The $2 trifecta returned $11,418.40.
In a Derby oddity, there was a dead heat for fourth between JAZIL and BROTHER DEREK, leading to a split payoff in the superfecta wager. It was the first dead heat to affect parimutuel payoffs in the hisory of the Derby, and only the second overall. The JAZIL super paid $84,86040 on a $2 bet, while the BROTHER DEREK version rewarded investors with $59,839.00. Each horse finished a length behind STEPPENWOLFER.
BROTHER DEREK was the 3-1 morning line favorite but was made 7-1 by the betting public. Starting from post 18, he encountered traffic trouble during the race. By the time he got free, it was much too late to catch the winner.
LAWYER RON, the co-second morning line choice with the winner, finished twelfth.
The Bob Baffert-trained trio of POINT DETERMINED (9-1), SINISTER MINISTER (9-1) and BOB AND JOHN (12-1), finished ninth, 16th and 17th, respectively.
The early leader in the race, KEYED ENTRY, finished last.
Fractions for the Derby were :22.63 (KEYED ENTRY), :46.07 (KEYED ENTRY), 1:10.88 (KEYED ENTRY) and 1:37.02 (BARBARO).