Kentucky Derby 2013 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Orb

A bay colt with a small white star, Orb was bred and owned by Stuart S Janney III and Phipps Stable. Claude R. "Shug" Mcgaughey III trained Orb, who drew post position 16, near the outside of the track. He entered the race with four consecutive wins, including the Fountain of Youth Stakes and the Florida Derby, in which he defeated another 2013 Derby contender, Itsmyluckyday, by 2¾ lengths. Orb's rider was John Velazquez in both the Florida and the Kentucky derbies.

By early Saturday, the clear betting favorite had become Revolutionary, ridden by Calvin Borel, a celebrated Cajun jockey and three-time Derby winner. NBC sports commentators speculated that it was more the jockey than horse that attracted bettors, especially Kentucky residents, who also bet heavily on Goldencents, partly owned by University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino. The final odds, however, reveal that Orb once again became the favorite at 5-1, with Revolutionary close behind at 6-1. Verrazano, who at one time was thought to be a favorite, was 8-1.

Answer: Todd Pletcher

The horses trained by Todd Pletcher for the 2013 Kentucky Derby were: Verrazano, Revolutionary, Overanalyze, Palace Malice, and Charming Kitten. Pletcher has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer of the Year four times consecutively (2004-07). His breakthrough win was three-year-old Ashado's victory in the 2004 Kentucky Oaks. In 2007, Pletcher's horse Rags to Riches became the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes since 1905; it was the trainer's first Triple Crown victory.

D. Wayne Lukas trained Oxbow and Will Take Charge for the 2013 Kentucky Derby. Chad Brown's charge was Normandy Invasion. Bob Baffert had no entries in 2013.

Answer: Gary Stevens

Gary Lynn Stevens of Caldwell, Idaho dropped out of high school to become a jockey. He won the Derby in 1988 on Winning Colors, in 1995 on Thunder Gulch, and in 1997 on Silver Charm. (Winning Colors was the last filly to win the Derby in the 20th century.) After retirement, Gary found work in 2006 as a commentator for NBC Sports and TVG Network (the first horse-racing specialty channel in the USA). He also took up acting and played jockey George Woolf in the movie "Seabiscuit" (2003). The fifty-year-old had to change his life and get back in shape to ride again, and on Derby Day 2013 he weighed less than he did before retirement.

Jerry Bailey, who rode Sea Hero to victory in the 1993 Kentucky Derby, also retired around the same time as Gary Stevens, and together they worked as sports analysts for NBC. Amazed at Stephen's accomplishment, Bailey commented on race day 2013 that he could never be like Gary!

Answer: Calvin Borel

Calvin Borel, 46 years old at the 139th Kentucky Derby, had won the race three times: in 2007 on Street Sense, in 2009 on Mine That Bird, and in 2010 on Super Saver. He tied with Gary, and was seeking a fourth win to tie with Willie Shoemaker (1931-2003), who won four Derbys on Swaps (1955), Tomy Lee (1959), Lucky Debonair (1965), and Ferdinand (1986). Louisiana-born Borel became famous for riding inside the rail (hence the nickname "Bo-Rail"), particularly after an unbelievable win on longshot Mine That Bird, when he squeezed through a spot so tight that on the videotape it appears physically impossible, and even the racetrack announcer was caught off-guard.

Answer: Goldencents

Kevin Krigger was only the second Black jockey in 92 years to ride in the Derby. Not one Black jockey participated in the Derby between 1921, when Henry King guided to Planet to tenth place, and 2000, when Marlon St. Julien rode Curule to seventh.

Goldencents, a bay colt with a star stripe, was trained by Doug F. O'Neill, the trainer of the 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another. Goldencents won the Santa Anita Derby and the Sham Stakes, among other races, and he can trace his lineage back to Secretariat. Despite this pedigree, Goldencents finished 17th in the Derby.

Answer: Black Onyx

Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes winner Black Onyx was scratched because of a chipped left ankle. Trainer Kelly Breen had ordered x-rays when he noticed swelling on the morning before the Derby. Because the scratch occurred so late, Fear the Kitten, who was on the also-eligible list, could not be entered in his stead.

The withdrawal left jockey Joe Bravo without a Derby mount. Bravo would have ridden Black Onyx in post position number one, which was left empty on race day. He was 50-1 on the morning line.

Answer: Sloppy

It had rained all day that first Saturday in May. The track was extremely sloppy. Fortunately, horses have an inner eyelid that protects their eyes from mud and dirt! The jockeys, lacking such a functional apparatus, had to wear extra goggles. The temperature was also an unseasonably cool 58 degrees.

Many of the horses in the running had never ridden in mud, which made handicapping the horses a little more complicated as it was unknown how they would perform.

Answer: Verrazano

It was hoped that Verrazano would break the Curse of Apollo, the oldest curse in American sport at the time of the 139th Derby. At the eighth Kentucky Derby in 1882, Runnymede was the 4-5 favorite. Because Apollo had only started racing that January, though he won all his starts, his odds were offered as high as 82-1 by some Louisville bookmakers. With Runnymede just 400 yards from the finish line, African-American jockey Babe Hurd weaved Apollo through the pack, and the colt charged through the mud to win by half a length.
(Justify would break the curse, winning the 2018 Kentucky Derby as an unraced two-year-old)

Verrazano, a handsome mahogany colt, could not race at age two because of shin problems. At age three he won all four of his starts, including his maiden race at Gulfstream Park. But race enthusiasts are a superstitious lot, and Verrazano never became the favorite on Derby Day.

Answer: Lines of Battle

Lines of Battle won three of his starts before the Kentucky Derby. In fact, he won the $2-million UAE Derby in Meydan handily. Sired by War Front, he flew in a specially modified plane from Ireland, and he had to be quarantined before he could race (standard operating procedure). Englishman Ryan Moore was jockey in the Derby.

The Kentucky Derby historically has had few European starters, and none had won the Derby up to the 139th running.

Answer: Points system

Churchill Downs announced in June 2012 that a new points system for determining Derby entrants would replace the previous system based on earnings in graded stakes races, beginning in 2013. The catalyst for the change was that 83 percent of survey respondents indicated they did not understand how eligibility was determined.

The "Road to the Kentucky Derby" now consists of 36 races which provide points based on the horse's performance. Qualifying races include the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the Florida Derby, the Arkansas Derby, and the Santa Anita Derby. None of the qualifying races in the new system are fillies-only, whereas the previous system, which tracked 185 different races, included several.

Answer: Orb

Palace Malice led a grizzling pace out of the starting gate. As the horses came around the final turn, Orb was way in the back. Normandy Invasion had overtaken Palace Malice out in front, with Oxbow not far behind. Joel Rosario took Orb to the outside, and Orb plowed through the muck and passed Normandy Invasion, winning by 2-1/2 lengths. The owners announced after the Derby they would enter Orb into the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico to try for the Triple Crown.

Orb was the second Derby starter for owners Stuart Janney and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps. The wealthy owners are a throwback to the time when owners bred their own horses and raced them. Many owners in the twenty-first century must belong to partnerships or syndicates to purchase horses and spread out the enormous cost of one the most expensive sports in the world.

Answer: Golden Soul

Golden Soul, like Derby winner Orb, was way in the back. In fact, he was 15th as the horses rounded the final turn! Jockey Robby Albarado of Louisiana managed to take his mount to second place during the last furlong of the race, passing pacesetter Palace Malice and front-runner Normandy Invasion. Golden Soul was half-brother to Quintons Gold Rush, an also-ran in the 2004 Kentucky Derby.

Revolutionary, one of trainer Todd Plecther's five starts in the Derby, came in third along the rail, in jockey Calvin Borel's typical fashion.

Answer: No

Joel Rosario, who rode Orb to victory, was not the first choice, but this is not an unusual occurrence in horse racing. Let's review the jockey musical chairs of the 139th Kentucky Derby. When John Velazquez was faced with a choice of Verrazano or Orb, he chose Verrazano. Because this undefeated horse was now open, Joel Rosario, who was on Vyjack, opted for Orb (and eventually rode him to first place). This left Vyjack open. Garrett Gomez was on Flashback, but the colt became injured and could not enter. So Gomez agreed to ride Vyjack.

The musical chairs don't stop there. Javier Castellano was on Revolutionary, but he switched to Normandy Invasion when the opportunity arose. Calvin Borel was then offered Revolutionary, and he accepted (and rode his mount to third place).

Answer: Came in 5th

Anna Rose "Rosie" Napravnik was originally expected to ride Shanghai Bobby, who had proved a champion as a two-year-old in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The colt staggered to fifth place in the Florida Derby. X-rays revealed a pelvic stress fracture, so trainer Todd Pletcher removed him from competition. Rosie instead rode Mylute, a gray colt who exceeded expectations and came from 20 lengths back to reach fifth in a photo finish among two other horses vying for third. (Revolutionary won that contest.)

Although Rosie the Riveting didn't finish in the money, she placed better than any other woman jockey in the history of the Kentucky Derby. Rosie beat her own record, which was 9th place in 2011 on Pants on Fire. Before Rosie, the highest place of a woman jockey in the Derby was 11th, achieved by Patricia Cooksey on So Vague in 1984 and by Julie Krone on Suave Prospect in 1995. Rosie was also the second-highest earning jockey of the year by the time she entered the Derby in 2013.

Answer: Boston Marathon bombing

On April 15, 2013, two pressure-cooker bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon. Three people died and 264 were injured. Because the Derby was America's first major sporting event since the tragedy, extra security precautions were put in place, including extra bags checked, etc. Coolers and other containers usually allowed in the infield were forbidden. Sportscaster Bob Costas commented in the NBC coverage of the Derby: "This is the new normal for sporting events."