LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Todd Pletcher didn't want to watch the Kentucky Derby with friends. He didn't want to watch it with family. He didn't want to pick one of the four owners he was representing and sit with them. In fact, he didn't even want to watch it live from the stands.
He wanted to watch it alone, on television, inside the Horseman's Lounge, halfway down the tunnel beneath the grandstands.
"Obviously, I needed to change something," said the UA graduate, who entered Saturday's 136th Run for the Roses 0 for 24, the most attempts without a victory in the history of the race.
And so as history unfolded at Churchill Downs, when jockey Calvin Borel made his move and guided Super Saver through the mud and along the rail to win the Kentucky Derby by a length and a half ahead of Ice Box and Paddy O'Prado, Pletcher was all by himself. He didn't have to share his emotions with anyone, which was exactly the way he preferred it.
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Television cameras caught him throwing an emphatic fist pump, but by the time he emerged from the tunnel, the stoic and perpetually stone-faced Pletcher had once again wrestled control of his emotions. The 43-year-old trainer typically has all the outward charisma of a Secret Service agent. But if you studied his face closely Saturday, you could see a hint of joy, and a touch of vindication.
"I think it will all soak in in a day or two," Pletcher said. "Obviously, it's a race I've dreamed my whole life of winning. Now that it's happened, I don't know what to feel or say. I wish I could wax poetically and tell you how it feels, but it's still kind of all soaking in."
Pletcher's preference for restraint is, of course, in direct contrast with Borel's exuberance and unbridled energy. In victory, he pounded his chest, blew kisses to his wife, Lisa, and soaked in the applause of a crowd of 155,804, the sixth largest in Derby history. This was Borel's second straight Kentucky Derby victory - and his third win in the past four years, something no other jockey has accomplished. After the race, he even got a rare smile from Pletcher by declaring that he and Super Saver were going to win the Triple Crown.
It turns out all the buttoned-downed Pletcher needed to win a Derby was a little dose of Calvin Borel.
"Calvin Borel is a great rider anywhere he goes, but for some reason at Churchill Downs, he's even five lengths better," Pletcher said.
When it rained hard Saturday morning, drenching the track and turning the dirt into a thick soup, Super Saver seemed to emerge as the horse to beat, and not just because of his preference for running the mud. It was also because of Borel, a fearless rider who knows how to summon that special magic required to win in a 20-horse field at his home track.
"I was born to ride," Borel said. "This is what I wanted to do all my life. Every jock's dream is to win the Derby. But I never dreamed I'd win three Derbys."
In some ways, Borel's trip with Super Saver mirrored his ride from last year on Mine That Bird. He laid off the pace, wove through traffic, hugged the rail and flew home for the win. He had to get around Conveyance, then cut inside of Noble's Promise, and once he did that, Super Saver was gone.
"Calvin is such an instinctive rider, I really didn't want to handcuff him with too many instructions," Pletcher said.
Pletcher had experienced a roller coaster of emotions this week. On Sunday, he had to scratch the horse everyone believed gave him the best chance to win his first Derby, Eskendereya, who came to Louisville a heavy pre-race favorite but suffered a leg injury during training.
"A lot of times, things work out for a reason," he said. "We were concerned the first couple days because Eskendereya didn't like the sloppy track. But this was Super Saver's day."
KENTUCKY DERBY CHART
11th Race at Churchill Downs: Saturday, 1 1/4 miles. Purse: $2,185,200 Open: 3-year-olds
Horse Wgt PP 1/4 1/2 3/4 1M Str Fin Jockey Odds
Super Saver 126 4 6-hd 6-hd 4-hd 2-hd 1-2 1-2 1/2 Borel 8.00
Ice Box 126 2 19-3 19-4 19-2 15-3 11-hd 2-nk Lezcano 11.70
Paddy O'Prado 126 10 13-2 11-2 1/2 10-1 1/2 5-hd 3-1 3-2 Desormeaux 12.30
Make Music for Me 126 9 20 20 20 13-hd 7- 1/2 4-1 1/4 Rosario 30.00
Noble's Promise 126 3 8-1 1/2 4-1 3-3 1-1 1/2 2-1 1/2 5-1 Martinez 24.90
Lookin At Lucky 126 1 18-3 18-2 18-1 1/2 14- 1/2 6-hd 6- 1/2 Gomez 6.30
Dublin 126 17 14- 1/2 15- 1/2 12-1 7-hd 5-hd 7-1 1/4 Thompson 20.00
Stately Victor 126 6 17-2 1/2 17-4 14-hd 10- 1/2 8- 1/2 8-2 Garcia 20.20
Mission Impazible 126 14 5-2 7-1 7-1 11-1 1/2 9-1 1/2 9-1 1/4 Maragh 16.70
Devil May Care 121 11 10-1 9-1 8-hd 3- 1/2 4- 1/2 10-6 3/4 Velazquez 10.90
American Lion 126 7 7-hd 8-1 9-1 1/2 9- 1/2 12-1 1/2 11-nk Flores 23.20
Jackson Bend 126 13 9-1 1/2 10-1 11-1 1/2 8-hd 10- 1/2 12-6 1/2 Smith 23.00
Discreetly Mine 126 15 4-hd 5-1 1/2 5-hd 6- 1/2 13-2 13-3 1/4 Castellano 31.60
Dean's Kitten 126 8 15-2 12- 1/2 13-2 16-2 1/2 15-3 14-14 1/2 Albarado 25.70
Conveyance 126 12 1-1 1-1 1/2 1-1 4-hd 14-2 15-10 1/2 Garcia 27.00
Homeboykris 126 19 11-hd 14-2 17-3 1/2 20 18- 1/2 16- 1/2 Dominguez 27.00
Sidney's Candy 126 20 2-2 2-4 2-2 1/2 12- 1/2 16-1 1/2 17-6 1/4 Talamo 9.50
Line of David 126 5 3- 1/2 3-hd 6-1 18-2 1/2 19-2 18-nk Bejarano 19.90
Awesome Act 126 16 16-1 1/2 16- 1/2 16- 1/2 17-4 17-4 19-9 1/2 Leparoux 11.60
Backtalk 126 18 12- 1/2 13-hd 15-hd 19-1 1/2 20 20 Mena 23.10
4 (4) Super Saver 18.00 8.80 6.80
2 (2) Ice Box 11.20 8.00
10 (10) Paddy O'Prado 7.40
Exacta (4-2) paid $152.40
Trifecta (4-2-10) paid $2,337.40
Superfecta (4-2-10-9) paid $202,569.20
(c) 2010 Equibase Company LLC, all rights reserved.
