Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Calvin Borel owns Churchill Downs, well if he doesn’t own the racetrack he certainly owns the rail, and Borel proved that again Saturday when he rode Mine That Bird through a small opening to a shocking 50-1 upset of the Kentucky Derby.

Borel’s patented ride resulted in a whopping payoff of $103 on a $2 win ticket, but the start of the race did not look like it would end in those kinds of riches. Borel was patient with Mine That Bird as the colt broke a little slowly in the 19-horse field.

Join in the Dance came out on top as was expected and was quickly pursued by Regal Ransom, Papa Clem and Hold Me Back. The rest of the field was trying to find positions before the first turn.

Mine That Bird wanted to show speed after he gathered himself, but Borel asked him to settle near the back of the pack and the colt responded. Borel kept Mine That Bird out of trouble as the field headed up the soggy backstretch and only asked him for run as they started rounding the second turn.

Borel picked up some ground along the rail as the pair came off the turn and then moved a few lanes over. He spotted an opening on the rail near the eighth pole and sent Mine that Bird through like a flash.

Pioneerof the Nile, Papa Clem and Musket Man all were trying for the lead in the middle of the track, and it looked like Pioneerof the Nile was a winner, but the game already was over as Mine that Bird quickly opened up several lengths on the rest.

 Mine That Bird was nearly six lengths ahead as Borel starting waving his stick at the grandstand inside the sixteenth pole. The top position had been decided as Pioneerof the Nile picked up second a nose in front of Musket Man who was a head in front of Papa Clem.

Mine That Bird’s official margin of victory was six-and-three-quarter lengths. It was the largest margin of victory since Assault won by eight lengths in 1946. The splits were 22.98, 47.23, 1:12.09, 1:37.49 and 2:02.66.

The Kentucky bluegrass got a lesson in racing from little guy from Louisiana and a cowboy from New Mexico and they couldn’t have had more fun giving it.

Trainer Chip Woolley is the cowboy and he was pretty plain spoken about what he thought his chances were before the race.

“We thought we would be more competitive than everybody gave us credit for.

We came through New Mexico, and New Mexico kicked our butt, but we just came here and won,” Wooley said.

Woolley took full blame for the two races in New Mexico. “What happened in New Mexico was my fault, I mess him up here.

Woolley also was asked about facing Rachel Alexandra (Kentucky Oaks winner), “I wouldn’t want to tie into her.”

Co-owner Leonard Blach said it was certainly a dream. “It’s probably everybody’s dream in here. I thought the horse had a lot of talent, we just hadn’t seen it yet. My heart dropped when I saw how far behind he was the first time he went by, but I was really happy by how far ahead he was the second time he came by.”

Mark Allen, the other co-owner, said he just would have been happy to just hit the board. “But watching him train here, I was pretty confident. I was that worried about the first time he came past. I knew Calvin Borel was on him and when Calvin found the rail I knew we would be all right.”

Allen was asked about Mine That Bird being a gelding. “We bought the horse to be a runner not a stallion.”

Allen also said there was no negotiations when they bought the horse. “They wanted $400,000, we paid $400,000.

Woolley said the trip from New Mexico was in a van. “We got a super nice van, we stopped over in Lone Star, galloped the horse at Lone Star. We just took our time getting here.”

Woolley was asked about handling the mud. “The horse had never been in the mud before we got here. But if you watched this horse training here he like it dry and when it got wet he just glided over it.”

He also said he and the owners will discuss going to the Preakness. He also said Borel is the best and he just rode a huge race. “When we found out Calvin was free for the race we went after him,” Woolley said.

Borel was just happy that Woolley got touch with him about riding the horse.

“We had planned to be about midpack heading into the turn but the bad start left us behind, but I wasn’t worried. I just gathered him up and I got him out of the bit and settled, but I still knew I had something. I started looking for a spot at the three-eighths pole and I had plenty of horse.

“That wasn’t such a small hole I went through, besides the horse I passed wasn’t very big,” Borel said.

Borel was asked whom he was waving his stick at and he said it was his fiancée. Borel also was asked if both Rachel Alexandra, who he won the Kentucky Oaks with on Friday, and Mine That Bird ran in the Belmont, who would he ride. Borel didn’t hesitate, “Rachel Alexandra, she the best horse I’ve been on.”

Borel is the first jockey to complete the Oaks/Derby double since 1993 when Jerry Bailey rode Dispute in the Oaks and Sea Hero in the Derby.

Mine That Bird is the second horse to come through New Mexico and win Kentucky Derby. Real Quiet was the first and won in 1998.

Friesan Fire, the post-time favorite, finished second to last and trainer Larry Jones said the colt got bounced around at the start. “He got hit real badly out of the gate and grabbed a quarter (left front). He’s bleeding. If you see blood on the track, it’s his. I couldn’t find him at post time. I don’t even know where he was running. But we’ll have to watch the replay. We’ll have a lot of time to see it this afternoon I bet.”

Gabriel Saez (jockey of Friesan Fire) confirmed the trip. “He got a bad start and got hit. I feel that he didn’t want to go, so I let him relax and finish the race. I didn’t want to hurt the horse. I just dropped the reins and let him gallop.”

The Derby day attendance was 153,563, the seventh largest.