The Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the horse racing’s Triple Crown, is less than a month away. Speculating on which horse will take the coveted prize is exciting and frustrating.
CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports that you never know who can win till the horse crosses the finish line.
Like twin pole stars, the spires of venerable Churchill Downs point the way to glory. In the shadow of those spires, a frantic field of 3-year-old thoroughbreds will run for the roses.
It’s the fastest two minutes in sports, and this year the favorite is…?
It was supposed to be a big bay colt named Uncle Mo. He was undefeated and a prohibitive favorite in Saturday’s Wood Memorial. Owner and entrepreneur Mike Repole kissed his Italian grandmother for luck, then settled in with 100 of his best buddies for the inevitable.
But Uncle Mo turned into slow-Mo, passed by not one, but 2 horses down the stretch.
“Hey, ya know, it’s like Michael Jordan used to score 50 a game and sometimes he’d score 15. Sometimes horses and athletes have bad days. This is a bad day,” Repole said after the race.
That was not the case for another favorite, Toby’s Corner. The chestnut colt came from sixth place to stun Uncle Mo and the rest of the racing universe. Before that race, his owners hadn’t even considered a trip to the derby.
“I mean this, it was such a wonderful – to think this could happen – I can’t stop laughing. It’s such a wonderful feeling,” said Diane Cotter, Toby’s Corner’s owner.
In another upset in California, Midnight Interlude surged at the finish at Santa Anita to produce another surprise derby contender as others fell by the wayside.
Second favorite, Premier Pegasus, is out with a fractured canon bone. Jaycito went down with an abscess, though he could recover in time for the derby.
For more on this article: The Kentucky Derby contenders: A first look
