Super Saver claims Kentucky Derby crown

The 136^th Kentucky Derby was a fun race to watch, especially when the horse I picked – Super Saver - charged along the rail to claim the win.

Calvin Borel did what he is known for and was glued to the inside of the track from the get go. He did the other thing he is known for – winning the Run for the Roses. He has jockeyed the winning horse in three of the last four Kentucky Derbies.

My other horses did not fare as well. Awesome Act faded and finished 19^th. Devil May Care, the lone filly in the pack, finished 10^th behind Mission Impazible.

My sleeper pick Jackson Bend finished in the middle of the back in 12^th place behind Devil May Care and American Lion.

The excitement for me came, though, from Super Saver taking the top spot.

Now that the top horses have gotten national attention, focus turns to the Preakness. Borel already said he is going to win the Triple Crown aboard Super Saver, so the horse is certainly the one to beat. Track conditions, just like yesterday’s race, will definitely come into play.

Be sure to check back on I Am Sportacus for my pick for the Preakness before the race May 15.

Josh likes Super Saver

Every year, I like to take a look at the Kentucky Derby and pick my horses, whether I have money on the race or not. With big name horses like Zenyatta and Endorsement not participating, it’s a wide-open field.

Lookin At Lucky is the odds favorite to win the 136^th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday, but the horse drew the rail. The inside post could hurt the 3-1 favorite, who took third at the Santa Anita Derby and won the Rebel Stakes and CashCall Futurity.

So I’m going to look elsewhere for my winner. Sidney’s Candy (5-1), Awesome Act (10-1), Devil May Care (10-1), Ice Box (10-1) and Super Saver (15-1) are all tempting.

I’ll pass on Sidney’s Candy, who drew the outside post. It takes a strong horse to win from the outside, am I’m not convinced Sidney’s Candy is the caliber horse that Big Brown was two years ago.

Devil May Care got a good draw at the 11 post, but I’m not sure this filly can perform at the level Rachel Alexandra did at the Preakness in 2009. Rachel Alexandra was an incredibly strong horse that could take on the males in the field.

Ice Box and Super Saver are in tight against the rail and will have to get out to good starts.

Ice Box (who is not the girl for Little Giants by the way) has been running well and won the Florida Derby in March. Awesome Act won at the Gotham Stakes in March.

Super Saver won at the Kentucky Jockey Club in November. He placed third in the Tampa Bay Derby in the March and took second at the Arkansas Derby April 10. I like Super Saver to win the Run for the Roses.

The horse has experienced jockey Calvin Borel riding him. Borel won the Derby and Preakness last year on two different horses (Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra). He’s a smart jockey who knows how to race. He’ll have to get his horse through some traffic early though and hang on.

My picks:

1. Super Saver (15-1)

2. Awesome Act (10-1)

3. Devil May Care (10-1)

Sleeper – Jackson Bend (15-1)

Kentucky crushing East Tennessee State

Kentucky, a favorite to win the National Championship, is crushing East Tennessee State after one half. They are shooting 59 percent from the field and have seven 3-pointers.

Eric Bledsoe and Patrick Patterson each have 15 points, and Kentucky is winning a team effort. John Wall has seven assists, and East Tennessee State is over matched. They just don’t have the weapons to stop the explosive Kentucky offense.

East Tennessee State has one chance to come back. They need a big start to the second half, and they need to get stops and buckets. The zone defense wasn’t working, and Kentucky made many shots look too easy. They have to make Kentucky earn their points.

Kentucky is dominating in every facet of the game. They are rebounding. They are passing. They are playing great defense. The game is theirs to lose now. If they continue to play like they are, East Tennessee State has no chance. Kentucky 54, East Tennessee State 26.

Horse racing super-matchup

If you like watching sporting events outside of the major athletic leagues like the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB – NASCAR deserves to be included with the big four as well – you probably turn to sports like tennis, golf and boxing.

The obvious place to turn for non-traditional sports is the Winter Olympics. Opening ceremonies are tonight.

Other non-traditional sports fans were disappointed when Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao agreed to a fight before calling it off over a dispute concerning how frequent drug testing should occur. Pacquiao is now going to fight Joshua Clottey on March 13, the date he was supposed to fight Mayweather. ‘Money’ Mayweather expects to fight Shane Mosely on May 1, which should still be a good fight, but doesn’t carry same weight as a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout.

Where boxing’s big matchup failed, horse racing will come through. It was recently announced to the delight of non-traditional sports fans that Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra will race Zenyatta, the winner of the Breeders Cup Classic, for a $5 million purse. The race will take place April 9 and will be 1-1/8 miles.

Every spring, horse racing fans and casual fans will tune in for the Kentucky Derby. A fewer number of casual fans continue with horse enthusiasts to watch the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont. The Triple Crown draws a lot of viewers to a sport typically watched by a select few. The Breeders Cup draws more spectators as well.

The Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta race at the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., deserves to be the most watched race in recent history, but it will need to be properly publicized.

The $5 million purse is a good start to get people interested. The track owner, Charles Cella, said he would only make the large prize available if the two horses agreed to race head-to-head. If one horse backs out, the purse returns to its original $500,000 (it should be noted that if another horse beats the pair, the animal wins the $5 million).

If promoters can hype the matchup enough to get a sizeable audience, the horses will take care of the rest. It will be an exciting race in many regards but determining which filly is the top female horse in racing will be enough of a draw for many. This is a great opportunity for horse racing to get some publicity prior to the Triple Crown stretch.