I was out of town again this past weekend visiting some friends back in the Midwest, so I missed opening day at Gulfstream and Tampa Bay Downs. The early opening of Gulfstream still seems a little out of place to me; I'm used to gearing up for Gulfstream right after Christmas.

While I was sitting in O'Hare for a five hour layover I was thinking that an airport OTB would be a very nice option. What I should have done is jumped in a cab and gone over to the Arlington Park OTB, bet a few races, and then hurried back over to O'Hare in time for my connecting flight. Oh, the trials and tribulations of a horse player!

Some random thoughts on this Monday morning:

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There's been a lot of discussion about the Churchill Downs main track on Saturday and its impact on the Derby and the other races on the card.  The chief debate centers around Shackleford, whether or not he should have won after the factions he set on the front end of the Derby, and whether or not there was a bias against the speed on the Derby day races on dirt. As is typical when we start to look at results, final times and fractional splits, the data leaves a lot open to personal interpretation.

Of the nine dirt races on Saturday, only one horse took the field gate-to-wire - C J Russell in the 3^rd race Maiden Special Weight at six furlongs. (see chart below)  One other pacesetter finished 2^nd - odds-on Hilda's Passion who ran the fastest ½ mile split of any horse on the main track on Saturday. (Winner Sassy's Image continued her winning ways at Churchill Downs where she is now 5-4-0-1.) 

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Let's take a closer look at the pedigree and racing history of yesterday's winner of the Kentucky Derby, Animal Kingdom.

Pedigree

Unlike a lot of recent Kentucky Derby winners, Animal Kingdom possesses a strong influence of stamina on the bottom half of his pedigree to go along with the speed/stamina mix on the top.

Animal Kingdom is a son of champion turf miler Leroidesanimaux (BRZ) out of an Acategnango (GER) mare (Dalicia (GER)). Leroidesanimaux won the Eclipse Award as Champion Male Turf Horse in 2005 after winning the Kilro Mile, the Fourstardave and the Woodbine Mile; he set the track record at Saratoga while winning the Fourstardave. Leroidesanimaux's name is a combination of four French words - Le roi des animaux - roughly meaning "King of the Animals". Among the major wins in his career:

• Grade 1 Citation Handicap, 8.5 furlongs (2004)
• Grade 1 Kilroe Mile, 8.0 furlongs (2005)
• Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, 8.0 furlongs (2005)
• Grade 2 Forestardave Handicap, 8.5 furlongs (2005)
• Grade 3 Inglewood Handicap, 8.6 furlongs (2004
• Grade 3 Morvich Handicap, 6.5 furlongs (2004)

Leroidesanimaux finished second to Artie Schiller in the 2005 Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park after suffering from sore feet leading up to the race. 

The top half of the pedigree is interesting in terms of the versatility seen by some of the colts with similar influences in their pedigree.  Leroidesanimaux was sired by Candy Stripes, the broodmare sire of Candy Ride (ARG).  Candy Ride has produced notable runners Sidney's Candy and Twirling Candy, colts that have run well on both dirt, turf and synthetic surfaces.  While Leroidesanimaux was known for his dominance on turf, it doesn't seem out of the relm of possibility that he would have taken to other surfaces given his pedigree.

(Further note: Candy Stripes also sired Invasor (ARG), Horse of the Year in 2005 and winner of of the Breeders' Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup on dirt.  Just more evidence that Animal Kingdom is an excellent combination of turf, dirt, speed and stamina pedigrees).

Damsire Acatenango (GER) raced in Germany and France in the mid 1980s and won thirteen straight races during 1985 and 1986.  Among the prestigious races Acatenango won during his career:

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Most people realized that the pace set by Shackleford in yesterday's Kentucky Derby, won by Animal Kingdom, was on the slow side.  But do you realize how slow it actually was?  Below is the ranking of fractional times for the 2011 Kentucky Derby when compared to every Derby since 1988.

1/4: 24th of 24
1/2: 24th of 24
3/4: 24th of 24
Mile: 17th of 24
Finish: 10th of 24

Every step of the first six furlongs of yesterday's Kentucky Derby was the slowest we've seen in 24 years. Every single step.  In this light, it's pretty amazing Animal Kingdom was able to make up the ground he was in the final furlongs.  On the other side of the coin, front-running Shackleford had everything handed to him on a silver platter to win the Derby - an uncontested and easy lead.  While his 4th place finish was nice, a top quality frontrunner would have won yesterday's Derby gate-to-wire.

(An additional note on that six furlong split of 1:13.40 - the next slowest over the last 24 years came in 1999 when Valhol went the opening six in 1:12.52, almost a full second faster than Shackleford.)

The final quarter mile internal split of 24.55 ranks 4th fastest since 1988, behind 2006 (Barbaro), 1990 (Unbridled), and 2002 (War Emblem),

In terms of individual numbers; the fastest come home time in yesterday's Derby was 23.79 by Dialed In.    Dialed In also ran the fastest fourth quarter (23.21), making Dialed In the horse that ran the fastest final half-mile in the Derby. Unfortunately for the Zito trainee, he had nothing to run into due to the slow pace.  Unless your name is Zenyatta, you ain't gonna win as a stone-cold closer into fractions like that.

Here are Animal Kingdom's individual internal splits:

1/4: 24.26
1/2: 25.42
3/4: 24.72
Mile: 23.55
Finish: 24.09

The early Beyer figure for Animal Kingdom is 103.

Animal Kingdom, in his first race ever on a dirt surface, passes a game Shackleford in the final furlongs to win the 2011 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.  Shackleford set one of the slower paces in the last several years in the Derby, going 1:13+ for six furlongs.  Nehro, who ran closer to the place than usual, ran a strong final quarter mile but couldn't get to the winner at the wire.

Animal Kingdom was ridden by John Velazquez and trained by Graham Motion.  Congratulations to the connections.

I'll have more on Animal Kingdom's win in the Kentucky Derby, a peek ahead at the Preakness, and a recap of all of the action at Churchill Downs, a bit later this weekend.  Right now, I gotta finish off a bottle of bourbon!

Result chart via DRF.com

Payouts:

16-Animal Kingdom: $43,80, $19.60, $13.00
19-Nehro: $8.80, $6.40
13-Mucho Macho Man: $7.00

$2.00 Exacta: $329.80
$0.50 Trifecta: $988.10
$1.00 Super: $24,063.95
$1.00 Double: $196.50
$0.50 Pick 3: $1,184.55
$0.50 Pick 4: $6,146.10
$0.50 Pick 5: $213,895.34
$2.00 Pick 6 (5-of-6): $12,251.80
Pick 6 Carryover: $513,582.84

Fractions:
1/4: 23.74
1/2: 48.63
3/4: 1:13.40
Mile: 1:37.49
Finish: 2:02.04

Internal Splits:
1/4: 23.74
1/2: 24.89
3/4: 24.77
Mile: 24.09
Finish: 24.55

Standard and overhead replays below the jump.

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The handicapping is complete (mostly).  The TwinSpires account is funded (for now).  The beer is cold.  The bourbon is ready. It's Kentucky Derby Day!

Churchill Downs will feature a 13-race card today, highlighted by the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby (Race 11, post time 6:24 Eastern / 3:24 Pacific, TV: Undercard on Versus and Derby on NBC).  The first race will go to post at 10:30am Eastern and the final race of the day will go off at 7:50.  And, yes, I might be playing races #12 and #13.  You gotta get even at some point!

Good look to everyone today with your wagers, and may we have a safe Derby Day for all the horses, jockeys and track personnel.

Kentucky Derby Entries, Post Positions and Morning Line Odds
Scratches and Changes at Churchill Downs

Main track is currently FAST
Turf course is currently FIRM

The chart below will track all of the day's winners and pari-mutuel payouts.  All post times are listed as Eastern.  Clink on the link of the winner's name to be taken to the result chart via DRF.com.

Note: The chart below looks better if you are viewing on the "wide" setting (top right corner menu).  I try to set up all the charts so they look fine on Narrow or Wide, but couldn't make it happen for this one.

*Note: Churchill Downs will also off a Super Hi-5 wager on the Derby only.

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After months of speculation, training and prep races, the 137^th running of the Kentucky Derby is finally upon us.  And what a race it is this year!  The prep season saw a tremendous amount of twists and turns, while the run-up to the Derby itself has seen the scratch of juvenile champion Uncle Mo and the defection of the Wood Memorial winner (again!).  But all that is behind us, it's time to get ready for Kentucky Derby 137.

Below is a colt-by-colt look at the 2011 Kentucky Derby.  Horses are listed by post position and contain their morning line odds.

1-Archarcharch (10/1): He probably got the worst of it in the post position draw but his troubles might not come until later in the race when he'll need to get off the rail to make a late move. The only other time Archarcharch drew on the rail he got a bit rank in the early going and finished a well beat 3^rd, six lengths back, in the Grade 2 Rebel. Jockey Jon Court has a big task in front of him as he needs to secure a good position while at the same time getting Archarcharch to settle early.  If he's rank like he was in the Rebel, he'll have no shot to win the Derby.  If he can settle, it could be a big day for the Arkansas Derby winner.

2-Brilliant Speed (30/1): This colt is bred to run all day long and he scored a nice victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass over the Polytrack at Keeneland. He tried running on conventional dirt in the first two races of his career last summer and they both were absolute disasters. It's possible that he'll take to the dirt better in his third try, but I wouldn't bet on it.

3-Twice the Appeal (20/1): I've got a bunch of problems with Twice the Appeal: first, I'm not convinced that this colt wants anything to do with ten furlongs (although his dam has produced a couple of foals to do well routing). Second, he's got serious class issues. Sure, this isn't the best Derby field we've seen in the last ten years, but it's still a Grade 1 race and I'm not sure he's faced anything as good as what he's facing today. Calvin Borel gets the call in the saddle, and the fact that he's won three of the last four Runs for the Roses will entice some action ridiculous action at the windows...but not from me.

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This guy! ---------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you missed the post position draw on Wednesday, here' a quick re-cap of the situation with 3-Twice the Appeal.

• Twice the Appeal draws the #3 post.
• Churchill Downs morning linemaker, Mike Battaglia, sets Twice the Appeal at odds of 20/1.  During an interview, Battaglia states he would have made Twice the Appeal 40/1, but the presence of jockey Calvin Borel made it likely that crazed Bo-Rail supporters would drive the price down. 
  
• Early wagering opens for the 2011 Kentucky Derby and Twice the Appeal is bet down to 7/1. 
  

Several months ago, several readers and myself half-jokingly discussed the possibility of how much the odds on a Borel horse were going to get cut this year just for the fact that he was riding them, regardless of the talent of that colt.  Well, now we know.   And, obviously, this is just early betting; we don't know how much money is even in the pools yet and there is plenty of time for things to return to reality.  But I won't doubt the power of Calvin Borel.

This isn't to say that Twice the Appeal doesn't have some redeeming qualities...they just aren't enough to justify 7/1 odds. Of course, if Borel can win on Mine That Bird...