Saturday was America's day to basically celebrate the margarita. Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, is a minor holiday in Mexico, but in the USA it is the day to celebrate everything about Mexican restaurants, especially the limey drink.
Just not in Louisville, Ky., where this year Cinco de Mayo fell on Kentucky Derby Day. Nothing replaces the mint julep on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, but the talk of the day wasn't drinking -- unless you are into rainwater.
A record amount of rain, more than 2.6 inches before the Derby, fell and fell and fell. It might have made more sense to question whether the favorite could win for the sixth consecutive time, and the answer was yes.
Mike Smith rushed 5-2 favorite Justify, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, out of the gate and into second, but wisely off to the side of pace-setter Promises Fulfilled. He settled into an even gait until the turn to home, and Justify put away the field and held off Good Magic and Audible at the end.
Justify and Smith broke the 135-year-old "Apollo Curse," becoming the first horse since 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without racing as a 2-year-old. Justify is now 4 out of 4 as a 3-year-old.
Going into the Derby, no horse Saturday in a post position closer to the inside than No. 4 or farther out than 10 had won. The place to be for horses and jockeys when they had to be outside was off the rail.
Justify, in post No. 7, looked like he ran indoors he was so clean crossing the finishing line.
It has rained many times in the previous 143 runnings, but Saturday's cloud burst turned the track into a quagmire and sent handicappers scrambling for horses whose bloodline was not fazed by an off track.
It looked like the bloodline needed some fish in it. A handful of the 20 who made it to the Run for the Roses had won on off tracks, but Justify had only won on dry tracks at Santa Anita.
It might have taken the ride of a lifetime to beat the winner, perhaps like 2010 when Calvin Borel put Super Saver inside the drain on a path of about 4 inches with no margin of error between him and the rail, and "BoRail" -- as he is nicknamed -- saved ground and came flying on that tiny racing surface to win his second consecutive Derby.
Saturday, thousands of puddles stood on the track. Almost an hour before the race tractors circled the dirt oval trying to squeeze some of the rain out.
At 5:07, when the horses started the walk from the stables to the paddock, most of the official parties making that trek were barefoot and seemed to ignore the mud oozing between their toes, but this was Derby Day, the biggest day of thoroughbred racing in the world.
The day dreams are made of and heartache is common.
At 5:52, the 144th Kentucky Derby field broke from the gate and saying Smith rode a smart race would be like saying Einstein was good at math.
The pace was fast, especially on a muddy track, but when most of the field was getting bombarded with mud clots, Smith and Justify were clear, clean and coming out of the turn for home when Smith asked his mount for a little more and got a bolt that shot them into first.
Coming down the stretch Good Magic, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes, got out of trouble and came hard as did Florida Derby winner Audible, but it was Justify who would get his picture made in the winner's circle while wearing the bed of roses.
In the end, the rain was a mess, but not a factor in the Kentucky Derby.
Sports on 05/06/2018