Best opening 8f's run in the Ky Derby

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Another thing to note - seven different horses who ran the best 8f sheet number went on to win the race...

Real Quiet (1w, 4w, with a 117 Beyer)
Smarty Jones (2w, 3w with a 112 )
Big Brown (5w, 4w, with a 104 )
Thunder Gulch (3w, 4w, with a 105)
Charismatic (5w, 4w, with a 101)
Silver Charm (3w, 3w, with a 105)
Barbaro (3w, 3w, with a 98)

However, that doesn't exactly mean they had an ideal trip. If anything, they had the anti-Calvin Borel trip ... 'raced wide, placed forward' instead of 'rode rail, taken back with no regard at all for position'

Of the seven...

Real Quiet won the Preakness easily next out at 5/2 odds.

Smarty Jones won the Preakness by 11.5 lengths next out - his Beyer improving 11 points from a 107 to 118.

Big Brown won the Preakness by over 5 lengths with another similar wide move - won despite running down. Came back bleeding.

Thunder Gulch was beaten less than a length at 7/2 in the Preakness. But won 4 major races in a row after that - including the Belmont and Travers.

Charismatic won the Preakness next out at 8/1 odds.

Silver Charm won the Preakness next out at 3/1.

Barbaro broke down in the Preakness. He pressed such a slow pace in the Derby - that he shouldn't even be included with these anyway.

That's a record of 7-5-0-1 in the Preakness ... four of them non-favorites. One winning at 8/1. 6-5-0-1 if you disregard Barbaro.

Point Given, Bellamy Road, Indian Charlie, and Unbridled's Song all ran extremely underrated races in the Derby.

Skip Away was 5w, 7w while trying to keep up with the Honour And Glory/Unbridled's Song pace. He got killed.


Here are the horses who've won the KY Derby with a 1st call Moss Pace figure of 57 or lower since Beyers were first published in 1991....

16: Mine That Bird
34: Street Sense
35: Grindstone
44: Fusaichi Pegasus
45: Monarchos
45: Strike The Gold
48: Sea Hero
53: Lil E Tee
54: Giacomo

Of those nine winners - none of them repeated in the Preakness or Belmont.