It Was Nothing but Zeros for Zito

In the tunnel that leads from the track to the paddock at Churchill Downs, trainer Nick Zito stood crestfallen. One by one, the army of jockeys who had ridden for him in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby stood before him with their postmortems.

Javier Castellano, who rode Bellamy Road to a seventh-place finish, the best of Zito’s five horses, had no excuses.

Rafael Bejarano, aboard Andromeda’s Hero in eighth place, said that his horse was gaining ground at the end. But not like Giacomo, the longshot winner.

Jerry Bailey, who finished 10th on High Fly, had the lead at the quarter pole before the closers swallowed him up.

Gary Stevens, riding Noble Causeway, the 14th-place finisher, said that his horse broke like a quarter horse and fought his attempts to control him.

Edgar Prado, whose Sun King was 15th, said the colt had nothing left for the drive.

Zito, who seemed well-armed for a third Derby victory, went one way, back toward the track, as his riders headed for the jockeys’ room.

“This is tough,” he said. “But this is the reason they run the races.... I thought we had a great shot with these horses.”

Zito said he thought that High Fly or Bellamy Road, on the turn for home, might prevail.

“You look at the horses everybody was talking about and only [Afleet Alex] ran well. We’ll have something for the Preakness, but I don’t know who it’ll be yet,” Zito said, referring to the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico in Baltimore on May 21.

Tyler Baze, who rode Don’t Get Mad, the fourth-place finisher, is looking forward to a rematch with Giacomo in the Preakness.

“I think my horse will run really awesome the next time,” Baze said.

“The winner ran the biggest race of his life. It was the biggest race he’s ever run. If my horse was 100%, I don’t think he would have beat me.”

Baze referred to Don’t Get Mad’s running only a week after he won the Derby Trial at Churchill Downs. A horse out of the Trial hadn’t attempted that in 14 years.

Giacomo was one of the last Derby horses to arrive at Churchill Downs. He and Buzzards Bay were flown from Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“It was mainly due to the weather,” Giacomo’s trainer, the Hollywood Park-based John Shirreffs, said.

“It was rainy in Kentucky and he didn’t miss a day of training in Kentucky, so it worked out perfectly.”

Todd Pletcher, who saddled three horses, finished ninth with Flower Alley, 12th with Coin Silver and 19th with Bandini, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes three weeks ago.

“It seemed Bandini was fighting the dirt the whole time,” Pletcher said. “The other two ran respectably.”

Pletcher is winless with 12 starters in the Derby.

“We’ll regroup and come back next year,” he said.

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Earlier Saturday at Churchill, America Alive, at 17-1, won the $470,400 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic by 1 3/4 lengths over Meteor Storm. Quest Star was third and Sweet Return fourth.

In another Grade I stake, My Trusty Cat, at 10-1, finished three-quarters of a length behind Molto Vita in the $281,750 Humana Distaff Handicap. Puxa Saco ran third and Madcap Escapade, the 2-5 favorite, gave way after setting fast fractions to finish fifth.

The $231,000 Churchill Downs Handicap went to Battle Won, who paid $35.80. Miss Terrible, ridden by Alex Solis, won the $112,200 Comp USA Turf Mile, and Half Ours won the $120,000 Three Chimneys Juvenile.

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Where Nick Zito’s five horses and Todd Pletcher’s three horses finished in the Kentucky Derby.

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Nick Zito

7th ...Bellamy Road

8th ...Andromeda’s Hero

10th ...High Fly

14th ...Noble Causeway

15th ...Sun King

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Todd Pletcher

9th ...Flower Alley

12th ...Coin Silver

19th ...Bandini

Source: Associated Press