Justify reigns in the rain at Kentucky Derby as Mendelssohn flounders

But never the Kentucky Derby.

Pletcher has sent out 52 starters since his first Kentucky Derby appearance in 2000.

Bravazo finished sixth and left the gate with a line at 69-1. Don and Jack Wolf call the shots for this group, and one goal they’ve always tried to achieve for the partners is to win the Derby (or, in Lucarelli’s case, the Travers at the track he grew up on, Saratoga Race Course). Flameaway and Firenze Fire are the only horses with more than one start in the mud.

“That’s when we knew how special he was”, Baffert said. Then I said at the half he slowed it down to 46-and-change and she said, ‘No, that’s 45-and-change’. The excitement of the Derby is like no other race.

Smith said Justify, a son of 2007 Derby runner Scat Daddy, simply lapped up the sloppy conditions despite his inexperience.

It marked the seventh year in a row that a victor of one of the 100-point prep races emerged to win the Derby.

That means Brown, 39, the two-time reigning Eclipse Award victor as the nation’s top trainer, will have to wait at least one more year to celebrate that elusive milestone.

“He’s the most lovely horse”, Baffert said. “These horses are like humans; they know when they’re in over their head”. The $39.2 million bet through TwinSpires.com on Churchill races was up 15% from last year, and the $24.6 million bet on the Derby itself was up 18% over last year.

Brown called his quest to win his first Derby “a work in progress”.

BC-RAC-Kentucky Derby, 3rd Ld-Writethru, 445 Justify wins sloppy Kentucky Derby, Baffert takes 5th titleAP Photo DBY181, DBY301, DBY192, DBY176, DBY180, DBY302, DBY303Eds: Updates with details and quotes.

“I’m aging by the minute”, Baffert said four minutes before horses started loading in the gate. “I don’t like losing money, but, it’s a tough day”.

The lightly-raced 3-year-old proved won the Kentucky Derby convincingly by 2 1/2 lengths over Good Magic. Good Magic was second, while Audible finished third. Wood Memorial victor Vino Rosso finished ninth. Sired by the late stallion Scat Daddy, he is the second Derby victor in a row to arrive here with points from only one prep race; Always Dreaming did it previous year through the Florida Derby. Post time is scheduled for 6:34 p.m. EST, but there are a lot of activities before then. “In the modern day we don’t get in a rush with these horses”, Baffert told USA Today earlier this week.

No doubt, Pletcher will regroup and begin making plans for the next start for each of those in his Kentucky Derby quartet.

Justify´s dazzling outings this year included a superb three-length victory at last month´s Santa Anita Derby.