LOUISVILLE – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, winless in the Triple Crown since taking seven of eight from 1994-96, was king of the hill again yesterday, saddling Charismatic to win the 125th Kentucky Derby before a crowd of 151,051, second largest in history.
Charismatic, a son of Summer Squall, took the lead in deep stretch and held off the desperate late charge of Menifee by a neck. Cat Thief, also trained by Lukas, was another three-quarters of a length back in third with Bob Baffert’s Prime Timber fourth. The final time was a slow 2:03.1.
One of the longest shots on the board, Charismatic paid $64.60, making him the highest-priced Derby winner since Gallahadion in 1940. The exacta returned a whopping $727.80; the trifecta, $5,866.20.
The victory gave Lukas his fourth Derby, tying him with “Derby” Dick Thompson for second most ever, two behind “Plain Ben” Jones. The 63-year-old trainer’s election to the Racing Hall of Fame was announced last week.
Charismatic’s owners, Bob and Beverly Lewis, and jockey Chris Antley recorded their second Derby victories. Antley, who recently began riding again after an 18-month absence, did not pick up the mount until after Charismatic won the Lexington Stakes less than two weeks ago.
The winner will now head for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore May 15 with a chance to capture the Triple Crown and the $5 million Visa bonus for accomplishing the sweep.
The past two years Baffert won the Preakness with his Derby winners, Silver Charm and Real Quiet, only to see both colts finish a heart-breaking second in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes, beaten a total of less than a length.
Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown and none since Affirmed in 1978.
This year’s Belmont will be run June 5.
With 19 horses in this year’s Derby field, reduced from the maximum 20 by the scratch of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s Aljabr on Friday, this year’s Derby was a treasure trove of historical information and handicapping trends.
General Challenge, for example, was bucking two long losing streaks. No gelding had won the Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929 and no California-bred had won since Decidedly in 1962 – although a pair of Cal-bred geldings, Best Pal in 1991 and Cavonnier in 1996, finished a close second.
The fillies were facing a daunting task. In the first 124 runnings, only three of the 36 fillies who ran reached the winner’s circle and none since Winning Colors in 1988.
That wasn’t the only handicapping factor the fillies were trying to overcome. Neither had started in a race longer than 1 1/16 miles before the Derby. No horse who had not gone 1 1/8 miles in a prep race as a 3-year-old had won the Derby in 50 years.
The long drought of favorites, dating back to Spectacular Bid in 1979, was one of the most bizarre statistics going into the Derby, considering that from 1972-79 favorites won six of eight.
Spectacular Bid also was the previous season’s champion 2-year-old, the sixth to win the Derby in the 1970’s. But Answer Lively was trying to become the first juvenile champ since then to win, and he also was bucking the “Breeders’ Cup Jinx.”
Since the Breeders’ Cup was inaugurated in 1984, no winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile had gone on to win the Derby, with the best finishes being the thirds turned in by Chief’s Crown in 1985 and Timber Country in 1994.
In fact, when Timber Country won the Preakness that year he became the only Breeders’ Cup Juvenile champ to win a Triple Crown race.
Then there was the dosage system, which says the winner of the Derby should have a dosage index under 4.00, and the system’s “dual-qualifier” rule, which combines the dosage index with the horses’ performance in stakes races as a 2-year-old.
Only two horses since 1929, Strike the Gold in 1991 and Real Quiet last year, had won the Derby with a dosage index over 4.00.
Menifee, Worldly Manner, Charismatic and First American were the only horses in the Derby with a dosage index over 4.00.
Excellent Meeting, Three Ring, Answer Lively, Cat Thief, Prime Timber and Lemon Drop Kid were all dual-qualifiers.
The most enduring trend of all when it came to this year’s Derby was the fact that Desert Hero and Valhol were seeking to become the first horses to win the Derby without having raced as 2-year-olds since Apollo in 1882.