Derby Winner
Such is the case with the traumatic injury suffered by Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro at the Preakness on Saturday afternoon. Luckily, the owners and trainer of Barbaro had another option.1
Although his direct male line is no longer extant, his influence continues to seep through other segments of the pedigree chart. Every single horse in this year’s field traces to him multiple times, and Ben Brush appears in the pedigrees of 48 of the last 50 Derby winners, including every Derby winner from 1972 onward.2
Fuller, however, barely got his hands on the gold winner’s cup before it was taken away in a drug scandal. It was the only disqualification in the Derby’s 133-year history.3
Bet on every horse trained by a Derby rookie trainer - Who says a conditioner needs experience to train a Derby winner? of the last 5 winners have been trained by a conditioner who is bringing their first starter to the derby.4
Tim Tam’s lack of experience as a juvenile forced Jimmy Jones to run the son of Tom Fool frequently in the spring of his sophomore campaign. In his pre-Derby campaign, Tim Tam went to post more often than any Kentucky Derby winner has since.5
So far, Big Brown has looked the part of a champion, and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. has voiced his confidence in the 3-year-old colt for more than a month. The Florida Derby winner has won all three of his races by a combined 29 lengths.6