Mine that Bird soars to victory

Wow....that was an amazing race on Saturday!(Go to kentuckyderby.com to see it.) I swear I thought Pioneerofthenile had it in the bag when Calvin "Borail" Borel came through a tiny hole to win it. Congrats Calvin! He is one of my favorite jockeys to watch win. Not only does he own the rail but he is a hoot to see him after a huge win like that. All smiles and he is always just as estatic as ever. Puts a smile on your face. Anyways back to the horse. Mine that Bird just absolutely blew the other horses out of the water. What an extreme turn of foot that little gelding has. He is certaintly like this sire and grandsire.

His connections aren't the typical Kentucky Derby winning connections you would expect. They were dressed in cowboy boots and hats with jeans. I liked them. It's nice to see the little guys come up to win the big race. His trainer though is something else. Yes he had been rude to NBC's reporters but hey, he has a broken leg and who knows what kind of pain killers he's on. Also he seems to care a lot about his horse and thats how it should be. Kind of reminds me of Ruffian's trainer. Not sitting around talking to reporters when his horse needs him. They also scored points when on Sunday they brought the rose blanket to the Barbaro memorial statue outside Churchill Downs and placed it upon the statue for bystanders to take pictures. Then they handed out the roses to fans. How nice is that?

So all in all, yes I was a bit disappointed about the outcome but it was a great race and the best horse won. Now I'm not going to hand the Triple Crown to him but, he does have a shot. If he wins the Preakness in a couple weeks then he is definitely going to have the best shot so far. His father Birdstone upset Smarty Jones to win the Belmont Stakes in 2004. So you know he can get the distance of a mile and half. Now the Preakness is what I'm worried about. Pimlico tends to be speed favoring and that isn't going to suit his style of running. Well we'll see how he does. Only 12 days then it's time to the second leg of the Triple Crown!

Now for the full order of finish.

1.Mine That Bird

2.Pioneerofthenile

3.Musket Man

4.Papa Clem

5.Chocolate Candy

6.Summer Bird

7.Join in the Dance

8.Regal Ransom

9.West Side Bernie

10.General Quarters

11.Dunkirk

12.Hold Me Back

13.Advice

14.Desert Party

15.Mr. Hot Stuff

16.Atomic Rain

17.Nowhere to Hide

18.Friesan Fire

19.Flying Private

Now I was really impressed with Musket Man, Papa Clem, Chocolate Candy and Summer Bird's performance. A lot better than I thought they would do. Regal Ransom, Desert Party, Dunkirk, and Friesan Fire though really were disappointing. I do think Dunkirk and Friesan Fire did have excuses. Dunkirk did some kind of a freaky no one was near him but he stumbled, sort of thing then Prado completely rushed him into contention. Friesan Fire tore half of his foot off grabbing a quarter and Gabriel Saez just let him gallop out the race and didn't push him. (Gabriel was the same jockey who rode Eight Belles last year.) So I hope to see Dunkirk and Friesan Fire come back to win some more races. Saturday though, just wasn't their days. Desert Party and Regal Ransom just don't have any excuses. They just weren't good enough.

See you later to start handicapping the Preakness!

Have a great evening!

Kirsten