Mine That Bird came to Louisville in a trailer hauled by his trainer, Bennie Woolley, 45, from New Mexico, part of the low-key persona that kept bettors away.  He is the reigning 2-year old champion in Canada, but none of the experts thought much of him, despite the fact that his sire, Birdstone, won the Belmont in 2004 and his grandsire, Grindstone, won the Kentucky Derby in 1996.

The jockey Calvin Borel did it by biding his time in last place during the early parts of the race behind a half-mile run in 47.23 seconds, waiting for room to open on the rail and passing horse after horse down the stretch.  The Kentucky Derby is a stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, staged yearly in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race currently covers one and one-quarter miles at Churchill Downs; colts and geldings carry 126 pounds fillies 121 pounds . The race, known as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for its approximate time length, is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the United States. It typically draws around 155,000 fans.

After a colorful history which included the staging of a locomotive crash before a crowd of 40,000 to 50,000 in 1902 and auto races from about 1907 to 1911, the track was finally incorporated formally as Churchill Downs in 1937.  Nearly cancelled in 1945 due to World War II, the Derby got a reprieve thanks to VE Day and a May 8 lifting of the ban on horse racing.  The 70th consecutive Kentucky Derby was run in June that year.  CBS first broadcasted the 1 1/4 mile race nationally in 1952, and the popularity of the Kentucky Derby continued to grow.  In 1974, a record crowd of 163,628 witnessed the 100th running.

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing aka "Triple Crown", is the full name of the three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses.  Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a racehorse. In recent years, the Triple Crown has become a very rare achievement.  In the U.S., the term "Triple Crown" usually refers to a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June every year. The three races are:

The Kentucky Derby, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky
The Preakness Stakes, run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland
The Belmont Stakes, run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

The Triple Crown starts with The Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May.  The Preakness follows two weeks later, and the Belmont Stakes is three weeks after that. Only 11 horses have ever won the U.S. Triple Crown; none since Affirmed won it in 1978.  In 1973, Secretariat established the largest margin of victory in the history of The Triple Crown races with a 31 length win.  Last year Big Brown won the 2008 Kentucky Derby and was expected by many to win the Triple Crown.  He didn't.

Video Of The Last Triple Crown Winner

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