Orb wins the Kentucky Derby
Monday, May 6th, 2013May 6, 2013
A thoroughbred colt named Orb won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. (His name makes a little more sense if you know that his sire’s name was Malibu Moon.) On a rainy day with a muddy track, the colt started the
1¼-mile (2.01-kilometer) race from behind, at the 16th post position. Orb took the lead 1⁄16 mile (.100584 kilometer) from the finish line and won by 2½ lengths.
Orb comes by his speed honestly. Some of Orb’s more famous ancestors on his sire’s side include Secretariat and Seattle Slew. Orb fulfilled the dream of many with his win. It was the first Kentucky Derby win for Orb’s jockey, Joel Rosario—but then, Rosario is only 28 years old. Orb gave a more meaningful first Kentucky Derby win to his trainer, Shug McGaughey, who has been training race horses since the 1970′s. Finally, Orb gave his owners their first victory at the Kentucky Derby. Orb is owned by the Phipps family, who have been in horse racing for some 80 years.
The Kentucky Derby is the most famous horse race in the United States. It is held at Churchill Downs, a racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. The Downs was founded by Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of the explorer William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Clark, Jr., traveled to the United Kingdom in the late 1800′s, where he saw the Epsom Derby, the world’s oldest derby. Clark modeled the Kentucky Derby on the great British race. The Kentucky Derby has been run every year since 1875.
The Kentucky Derby is one of three races known as the Triple Crown. The other two races are the Preakness States, held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, and the Belmont Stakes, held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Only 11 horses have ever won all three races in the same year, and the list of Triple Crown winners includes some of racing’s most illustrious names—War Admiral (who won in 1937), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), and Seattle Slew (1977). The last horse to win the Crown was Affirmed in 1978.
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