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Kentucky Derby

It’s Mystik “Derby” Dan in Front

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LOUISVILLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Mystik Dan, with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard, won the 150th Kentucky Derby on Saturday in a three-way photo finish, edging Sierra Leone and Forever Young at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.

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Mystik Dan, which started out of the No. 3 post, squeezed through on the rail on the final turn, led throughout the stretch and just held off a charging Sierra Leone and Forever Young by a nose at the wire. Catching Freedom finished fourth.

At 18-1, Hernandez was able to capture his first Kentucky Derby after a short wait for the result to become official. Sierra Leone, the second favorite at 9-2, was ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, while Forever Young, the third favorite at 6-1, had Ryusei Sakai aboard.

Derby favorite Fierceness, at 3-1, finished 15th in the 20-horse field.

The second leg of the Triple Crown takes place May 18 with the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The final leg is June 8 in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY.

There have been 13 Triple Crown winners, with Justify the last in 2018.

–Field Level Media

Kentucky Derby: Essential Quality?

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LOUISVILLE – After the draw for starting positions for this Saturday’s horse race, three-year old fave Essential Quality was placed as the 2-1 favorite to win the 147th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

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Essential Quality will run out of the No. 14 post “on the first Saturday of May” in a 20-horse stampede at the traditional timing for the first race of North America’s Triple-Crown. A No. 14 start hasn’t been a successful starting point in the Kentucky Derby. Middle Ground (1950) and Carry Back (1961) are the lone two horses to emerge victorious from that position at famed Churchill Downs.

Essential Quality won the recent 2021 Southwest Stakes and claimed the prestigious Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2020. The colt is trained by Brad Cox, who aims to become the first Louisville native to win the Derby.

Rock Your World, who won the Santa Anita Derby earlier this month, is listed at 5-1 odds and will start from the No. 15 post, the starting gate that served for Authentic, who won the 2020 Kentucky Derby last November when the race was postponed from May to the Fall because of the global pandemic.