FINE FINISHER

I’ll have another, a 15-1 shot, comes roaring down the stretch to win 138th kentucky derby

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.

I’ll Have Another looked like just another horse at the Kentucky Derby.

Until the final furlong, that is.

That’s when the chestnut colt — sold for a paltry $11,000, ridden by a rookie jockey hardly anyone knew and stuck in an outside post — blazed past highly regarded Bodemeister to win by 11/2 lengths on Saturday, beating one of the deepest fields in years.

I’ll Have Another stormed out of post No. 19 — the first winner from there in 138 runnings of the Derby — and bided his time back in mid-pack while Bodemeister set a blistering pace on a muggy, 85-degree afternoon at Churchill Downs.

“He’s an amazing horse. I kept telling everybody, from the first time I met him, I knew he was the one. I knew he was good,” jockey Mario Gutierrez said. “I said in an interview, even if they allowed me to pick from the whole rest of the field, I would have stayed with him, 100 percent, no doubt about it.”

Gutierrez was largely a mystery to the record crowd of 165,307, who didn’t know if 15-1 shot I’ll Have Another or the jockey had the right stuff until the 20-horse field turned for home. That’s when Gutierrez, who moved up between horses around the final turn, positioned his colt not far from the rail and set him down to run.

“I know my horse was reaching every single step of the way, but I wasn’t going to stop riding until I was passing the wire,” he said. “That is when the horse race is finished.”

I’ll Have Another paid $32.60, $13.80 and $9. He ran 11/4 miles in 2:01.83.

Bodemeister, trained by three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert, was second and returned $6.20 and $5.60 as the 4-1 favorite. Dullahan was a neck back in third and paid $7.20 to show.

Trainer Doug O’Neill didn’t waste any time vowing that I’ll Have Another will go on to the Preakness in two weeks.

“Maryland, here we come, baby!” he said.

They’ll go to Pimlico as one of the favorites as a result of I’ll Have Another’s Derby win and his catchy name. It has nothing to do with alcohol; it’s Reddam’s response to his wife’s nightly query of “Do you want any more cookies?” as he lounges on the couch.

“When you tell people you’re in the horse racing game, they ask you, ‘Have you won the Kentucky Derby?”’ O’Neill said. “Now I can say, ‘Yes, I have, 2012.”’

A hot pace was anticipated from speedster Trinniberg, although, surprisingly, it was Bodemeister under jockey Mike Smith who bolted to the front and forced Trinniberg to take a backseat. In the late afternoon heat, Bodemeister set impossibly fast fractions. He ran the opening quarter-mile in 22.32 seconds and the half-mile in 45.39.

“I told Mike, ‘Look, if he breaks great and feels like running, we can win it,” said Baffert, who was hospitalized five weeks ago following a heart attack in Dubai. “That’s the only time I’ve run second where I’ve been happy because he ran his race.”

Meanwhile, I’ll Have Another was comfortably galloping along behind the speedsters. Gutierrez angled his colt clear on the final turn and took dead-aim at Bodemeister, who was clearly in front at the top of the stretch.

“I knew we were in trouble when I saw Doug’s horse coming,” said Smith, who won the Derby with 50-1 shot Giacomo in 2005.

Went the Day Well finished fourth, followed by Creative Cause and Liaison.