UPDATE: Orb wins!
Orb wins the 139th running of the #KentuckyDerby on a wet, muddy track
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 4, 2013
Original story below
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It’s that time of year again folks, the 2013 Kentucky Derby, the most exciting two minutes in sports, is just hours away and there’s one horse that everyone is talking about. Kentucky native Orb is on quite a roll this year and has rightfully been installed as the favorite for this year’s race.
Here’s what you need to know…
1. He’s Coming Fresh Off a Victory at the Florida Derby
It what was billed as a three-way-dance between Orb, Shanghai Bobby, and Itsmyluckyday, it was the Kentucky native who shone through in the $1 million race. This win secured Orb’s place in the Kentucky Derby.
2. Reports Are That He’s Been Training Brilliantly
In a practice run through the Kentucky course, Daily Racing Forum reports:
Orb passed by the finish line twice in a nice, easy, controlled gallop and seemed none the worse for wear after being spooked and kicking the back wall of his stall repeatedly while being schooled in the paddock the previous afternoon.
3. Its Bloodline is the Stuff of Legend
Orb’s father, Malibu Moon, has produced nine other champion colts. Going back even further, the Clarion-Ledger reports:
Orb directly traces to a mare, Claiborne-bred Bold Irish, who in the middle of the last century Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps gave to her daughter and son-in-law — Janney’s parents — to get them interested in flat racing, instead of just the steeplechase horses that Stuart Janney Jr. owned, trained and rode.
The gambit worked, and that direct line produced one of American racing’s most legendary horses – the brilliant and unbeaten filly Ruffian, who suffered fatal injuries in the 1975 match race with Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.
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It also produced Private Terms, who went into the 1988 Kentucky Derby unbeaten, but finished ninth in a race won by the filly Winning Colors.
4. He’s Being Ridden by Joel Rosario
A native of the Dominican Republic, Rosario is coming fresh-off a win at the Dubai World Cup, a $10 million race, in which he rode the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.
5.Goldenscents Should Provide Stiff Competition
The derby is rarely a cut and dry affair, and some a speculating that this could be the year for Goldenscents, and not Orb. The last two derbies have been won by sprinters like Goldenscents but Orb is the more in-form horse.