Medina Spirit won the 147th Kentucky Derby Saturday evening.
Medina Spirit, a $1,000 yearling buy, was considered a long-shot to win the race, with morning line odds of 15-1. The horse’s jockey is John Velazquez, and his trainer is Bob Baffert, who became the trainer with the most wins in Kentucky Derby history with his seventh victory.
‘MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME’ WILL PLAY BEFORE KENTUCKY DERBY DESPITE BACKLASH
“There’s no words to describe it. … What an incredible feeling,” Velazquez said of his fourth victory in the Churchill Downs contest. “It just doesn’t get old.”
Baffert said he knew Medina Spirit was “training well” but said he was “surprised” by Saturday’s victory.
“I cannot believe he won this race,” he said, adding he was “disappointed” in the horse’s last race, when he “didn’t run well.”
“That little horse has got a heart,” Baffert said.
The contest was marked by controversy before the race even began. Racial justice activists were opposed to the tradition of playing “My Old Kentucky Home,” saying the song uses language that is offensive to black people. Churchill Downs, the site of the famous horse race, defended its decision to play the song as planned.
“‘My Old Kentucky Home’ is the State Song of Kentucky. As such, it will be performed prior to the running of this year’s Derby as it has for the past 100 years,” Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs’s senior communications director, told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “The way the song is represented at the Derby is not a social or political statement. We understand that there are complicated discussions surrounding the song that can’t be fully reconciled by this year’s Derby, but we will continue to remain engaged in these discussions as they progress.”
While the melody of the anthem was played on Saturday, the lyrics were omitted.
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In order to qualify for the Triple Crown, a high honor in thoroughbred horse racing, Medina Spirit will next have to win the second jewel, the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 15, followed by the Belmont Stakes on June 5 in Elmont, New York.
Thirteen horses have won the Triple Crown in U.S. history. The most recent, Justify, earned the honor in 2018, though the win is considered controversial, given that the horse reportedly failed a drug test in April of that year.
