I'll Have Another Wins Kentucky Derby in Spectacular Come-From-Behind Upset

At the Kentucky Post, "I'll Have Another wins Kentucky Derby."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "I'll Have Another comes from behind to win Kentucky Derby":

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —— A horse few believed in. A jockey with little big-time experience. A very accomplished trainer who had never won a Triple Crown race.

All that's changed is I'll Have Another shocked an incredibly competitive field to win the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.

On a day when speed was holding up, the Southern California-based horse blew past a tiring Bodemeister in deep stretch to win by 11/2 lengths. It was the third time jockey Mario Gutierrez, 25, has ridden the colt, having previously won the Robert B. Lewis and Santa Anita Derby. It was also the first time a horse has ever won from the 19 post.

A year ago, Mario Gutierrez was the leading rider at Hastings Race Track in Vancouver, Canada, and watched the Kentucky Derby in the jockey's room.

"All jockeys dream they will one day be in the Kentucky Derby," Gutierrez said. "I wasn't thinking it would be the next year."

Not to understate Gutierrez's major race experience, but I'll Have Another's owner, Paul Reddam, put it this way.

"That was the second time Mario rode on the dirt at Churchill Downs and the first time was earlier today," Reddam said. "So we got him the experience he needed."

I'll Have Another was a bargain buy for Reddam. Assistant trainer Dennis O'Neill bought the horse for Reddam for $35,000 and, of course, he was in brother Doug's barn.

But first there was the naming thing. Conventional wisdom would indicate this is a tribute to drinking, but in fact, Reddam has said that his wife is always baking chocolate chip cookies, and when she asks, he says, "I'll have another."

Reddam was quite reserved compared with his trainer, Doug O'Neill, who was whooping and hollering like, well, he'd just won the Kentucky Derby.

"Southern California, baby," O'Neill said. "We're going to Maryland."

O'Neill says he will probably keep I'll Have Another at Churchill Downs and then van him to Maryland for the Preakness in two weeks.

"It's incredible," O'Neill said. "When you tell people you're in the horse racing game, they ask you if you've ever won a Kentucky Derby. Now I can say, 'Yes, I have.'"