Kentucky Derby: ‘I’ll Have Another’ Horse Wins

"I'll Have Another", ridden by Mario Gutierrez, edges out Bodemeister, (right) to win the 138th Kentucky Derby. (Mark Abraham/AFP/GettyImages)

The Kentucky Derby, also well known as “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sport,” yielded one of the most unexpected wins in the derby’s over 100-year history. 

‘I’ll Have Another’, a horse with a price tag of just $11,000 and ridden by a rookie jockey Mario Gutierrez, 25, stormed home ahead of favorite Bodemiester to win the 2012 prize at Churchill Downs.

“He’s an amazing horse. I kept telling everybody, from the first time I met him, I knew he was the one. I knew he was good,” Gutierrez said of his horse, “I’ll Have Another”, in an interview with the Associated Press.

The colt started out of gate in 19th position, but Gutierrez bided his time waiting for the right moment in the midfield to start putting on the heat in the final furlong. Favorite Bodemeister set a blistering pace from the start, running the first quarter of a mile in 22 1/5 seconds, a half mile in 45 1/5 seconds and tearing through three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 4/5 seconds, but his strong pace turned out to be his downfall when the horse tired in the final furlong.

Gutierrez, now the 42nd jockey to win his debut derby said to reporters after the race: “I know my horse was reaching every step of the way. I wasn’t going to stop riding until I got past the wire.” 

“[E]ven if they allowed me to pick from the whole rest of the field, I would have stayed with him, 100 percent, no doubt about it.”