I’ll Have Another wins 138th Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- No one quite believed when I’ll Have Another nipped Creative Cause in the Santa Anita Derby. They’ll believe in him now.

Saturday before a record crowd of 165,307 at Churchill Downs, I’ll Have Another ran down the highly touted Bodemeister to win the 138th Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths.

All day the track was favoring front-running horses so it was no surprise that Bodemeister went ahead of speedy Trinniberg and held the lead deep into the homestretch. That’s when I’ll Have Another came flying on the outside to win.

I’ll Have Another paid $32.60, 13.80 and 9.00. Bodemeister paid $6.20 and 5.60. Dullahan, who finished third, paid $7.20 to show.

“That race [Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita] really surprised me,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “They wanted to see if he was a Derby horse and then he repeated in the Santa Anita Derby.

“Maryland, here we come, baby.”

The next Triple Crown race is the Preakness at Pimlico in two weeks.

It was obviously a special moment for jockey Mario Gutierrez, who just moved to the Santa Anita jockey colony from Vancouver. He won his first stakes race at Santa Anita aboard I’ll Have Another on Feb. 4 in Robert Lewis Stakes. It was also his first time riding the horse. Then he did it again in the Santa Anita Derby.

“I don’t know what to say,” Gutierrez said. “Thanks to Mr. (Paul) Reddam for they confidence he showed in me at Santa Anita for allowing me to continue to ride this horse.

“He is an amazing horse. I told everybody before the first time I rode him, I knew he was the one.”

The favored Union Rags finished seventh.