The year I was born, the winner of the Kentucky Derby was a bit of an upset. 15-1 shot Dust Commander came through on the rail under jockey Mike Manganello to win the Roses in a time of 2:03.2. You might think that the time is a bit pedestrian and you might be right, but Dust Commander's winning margin in the Derby was five lengths. That is the largest winning margin of the 1970s. Consider that sentence for a moment. The 1970s included three Triple Crown winning horses (Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed), two other horses that had legitimate chances to do it (Canonero II and Spectacular Bid), and two other horses that won the Belmont after winning the Derby (Riva Ridge and Bold Forbes).
This might just be a testament to the weakness of the 1970 field, but keep in mind that Naskra was part of that field as was Belmont winner High Echelon. It just was not a bunch of pushovers in 1970. Certainly, Dust Commander won't go down in history as a great champion, that's for sure, but on the one day he had to be, he certainly was great. If you would like to watch the 1970 Kentucky Derby in its entirety, here is the Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDbLfLsTr3s.
Tune in tomorrow for more Derby talk from They Are Off. For right now, I am Gone... GOODBYE!
Photo courtesy of www.kyderbyfan.freeservers.com
1 comment:
Mike Manganello was one of our stewards at River Downs! Each year on Oaks day he goes down and they do a tribute to all the past Derby winning jockeys!
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