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Lather. Rinse. Repeat. California Chrome stalked the pace with his excellent tactical speed, went to the front at the top of the lane and cruised home to win the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby. Commanding Curve ran on well from the back to finish a well-beaten second. Danza and Wicked Strong finished up well and rounded out the top four.
UPDATE: The Trakus fractions are below and they are not especially dominant. California Chrome ran the last quarter mile in 26.20 for a final time of 2:03.26. We'll see how he comes out of this race. Cali Chrome is clearly the best at this distance but, and this is a key question for all Derby winners, how much longer does he want to run.
The odds for this year's Derby began to stabilize around 2:00 p.m. Eastern time with $10.2 million already in the win pool. California Chrome saw his odds cut from 5/2 to 2/1, while Wicked Strong and Danza saw slight upticks in their prices at 7/1 and 9/1, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, Vinceremos held steady at odds of right around 50/1, the largest price on the tote board.
California Chrome is a three-year-old colt by Lucky Pulpit out of a Not for Love mare (Love The Chase), trained by Art Sherman, and ridden by Victor Espinoza.
Earlier on the Derby under card:
- Coffee Clique ($13.80) won the G2-Churchill Downs Distaff Mile
- Midnight Lucky ($5.20) and Rosie Napravnik went gate to wire to win the G1-Humana Distaff
- Global View ($14.00) and Gary Stevens ran down Storming Inti to win the G2-American Turf
- Central Banker ($23.60) held off Shakin It Up to win the G2-Churchill Downs Stakes.
- Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan ($3.00) held off Seek Again in a thrilling stretch duel to win the G1-Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.
Apparently, some people that know nothing about horses think Wise Dan is "hype". Those people should probably know just something about the sport. Just something. For the uneducated: Wise Dan is a two-time horse of the year. Wise Dan is the best horse on this continent. Wise Dan ran as bad of a race as is possible and still won over a worthy opponent. There's nothing "hype" about Wise Dan. Wise Dan is the Michael Jordan of American turf. Live it. Love it.
The 2014 quest for the Triple Crown now moves to Old Hill Top, the Preakness at Pimlico Racecourse in Maryland. The Preakness is slated to run on Saturday, May 17th.
Below are the payouts for the Kentucky Derby:
| Horse | Win | Place | Show |
| 5-California Chrome | $7.00 | $5.60 | $4.20 |
| 17-Commanding Curve | $31.80 | $15.40 | |
| 4-Danza | $6.00 |
| Base | Bet | Combo | Payout | Pays to - |
| $2.00 | Exacta | 5/17 | $340.00 | |
| $0.50 | Trifecta | 5/17/4 | $856.15 | |
| $1.00 | Superfecta | 5/17/4/10 | $7,691.90 | |
| $1.00 | Double | 1/5 | $4.50 | |
| $0.50 | Pick 3 | 9/1/5 | $45.15 | 3-of-3 |
| $0.50 | Pick 4 | 5/9/1/5 | $394.45 | 4-of-4 |
| $2.00 | Pick 6 | 2/8/5/9/1/5 | $22,296.50 | 6-of-6 |
| Distance | Fractions | Internal |
| 1/4: | 22.79 | 22.79 |
| 1/2: | 47.11 | 24.32 |
| 3/4: | 1:11.40 | 24.29 |
| Mile: | 1:37.06 | 25.66 |
| Finish: | 2:03.26 | 26.20 |