Kentucky Derby Blog

I’ll Have Another, with jockey Mario Gutierrez, went from 15-to-1 shot to Kentucky Derby winner two weeks ago. Now the three-year-old colt is the only competitor in the field with a chance to capture the sport’s elusive Triple Crown.

I’ll Have Another, sent off as the second choice at 3-1 over 8-5 favorite Bodemeister, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94. The winner returned $8.40, $3.80 and $2.80. Bodemeister returned $3.20 and $2.80, and Creative Cause paid $3.60 to show.

Creative Cause was third, 8 lengths behind hard-luck runner-up Bodemeister, followed by Zetterholm, Teeth of the Dog, Optimizer, Cozzetti, Tiger Walk, Daddy Nose Best, Went the Day Well and Pretension.

The 2012 Preakness Stakes is set to take place on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland. The post time of the Preakness Stakes is 6:05PM EST and NBC will broadcast the race from 4:30PM. Check out the post position and morning line odds of 11 contenders.

Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill could face a suspension in California after one of his horses was found to have an elevated level of total carbon dioxide, an infraction for which he previously has been punished.

The California Horse Racing Board is considering the case, which involves “milkshaking,” the illegal practice of giving a horse a blend of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes to combat fatigue.

O’Neill faces his third total carbon dioxide violation in California and fourth in a career that has spanned 25 years.

I swear on my kids’ eyes I never milkshaked a horse,” O’Neill said Thursday at Pimlico Race Course, where he addressed reports about his possible suspension in California on charges he gave his horses performance-enhancing cocktails of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes. Instead, O’Neill blamed the failed tests on “some people in charge of California racing I think didn’t like a few of us that were doing well. Anyway, it’s all being heard by the courts and I’m very confident everything will be fine.” The trainer apparently isn’t going to let his problems in California have any influence on the job he’s got ahead of him leading up to the Preakness.

I’ll Have Another ridden by Mario Gutierrez, trained by Doug O’Neill won the 2012 Kentucky Derby.

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.”

Making his Derby debut at 25, Gutierrez got his chance to ride I’ll Have Another after trainer Doug O’Neill and owner J. Paul Reddam happened to see him at Santa Anita in Southern California.

I’ll Have Another overhauled a tiring Bodemeister to win by 1 1-2 lengths. He paid $32.60, $13.80 and $9. He ran 1 1-4 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.

With the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby only hours away, many are focusing on the weather with the hopes that Mother Nature will have little effect on the Run for the Roses. As of mid-day on Saturday, Weather.com projected that the track should be a bit wet, which will lend itself to speed.

With the storm moving away and the clouds expected to thin, heat could begin to rise to the mid 80s in the afternoon, which could potentially make it the hottest race day in 11 years.

However, with a cold front pushing in and the presence of heat, it still leaves the option of late day thunderstorms. At the time of this post, Weather.com was projecting that the storm should be south of Louisville.

Check out the 2012 Kentucky Derby current odds last updated at May 5, 2012 3:208pm EST.

Pool Total: $14,096,768.52