I'll Have Another overhauls Bodemeister to take Kentucky Derby

Reddam Racing's I'll Have Another provided a 15-1 upset of

Kentucky

Derby 138 on Saturday when running down pacesetter and late 4-1 favorite

Bodemeister before a record crowd of 165,307 to score by 1 1/2 lengths on the

wire at Churchill Downs.

"We've only run three times this year, so Preakness, here we come," owner J.

Paul Reddam said. "We gave the horse only two preps this year. Part of the idea

was we knew we had a good horse, and we wanted to make sure he was fresh because

the Triple Crown is a gamble and it looks like it paid off."

The Doug O'Neill trainee provided jockey Mario Gutierrez with his first Derby

winner in his first try when finishing 1 1/4 miles on the fast main track in

2:01 4/5.

"I was in British Columbia at Vancouver, where I've been doing all my racing

since 2006 pretty much," Gutierrez said when asked where he watched the Derby a

year ago. "Like all jockeys, we all dream that one day (we'd be fortunate enough

to) be in the Kentucky Derby. At that time I was at Hastings Park and of course

I had the dream, but I wasn't thinking it was going to be the next year."

I'll Have Another was accompanied to the Derby starting gate by retired fan

favorite Lava Man, whom O'Neill claimed and then developed into a handicap star

last decade. Now 11 years old, the $5.2 million-earner has taken up stable pony

duties for the O'Neill shedrow, though his job tasks were expanded when a little

girl named Hope paid a visit thanks to the Make a Wish Foundation.

"You know, Case Clay of Three Chimneys called and told me he met a friend in

Hope, how she wanted to come to the barn area," O'Neill explained. "We put Hope

on Lava Man. She was an absolute natural on Lava Man. It was incredible. Just so

cool. Just so cool to see someone who is so excited about the horses, just so

passionate about the game like we are. We got a new friend.

I'll Have Another moved his record to 6-4-1-0 following prior victories in

the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and paid

$32.60, $13.80, $9 for this, his third straight win. The winner's share of the

$2,219,600 purse skyrocketed the colt's lifetime earnings to $2,093,600.

"The Doug O'Neill team is a lot of fun. The whole group tries to remember

that racing is supposed to be fun first," owner J. Paul Reddam said. "There's

not just Doug and Dennis (O'Neill) and Mario, but all the guys that work very

hard in Doug's operation.

"There's a lot of laughs there, I would have to say. We're kind of a working

class group, from the trainer, the owner, the jockey. We don't come from the

bluest of blood for horse racing, and that's OK. The horse matches that

absolutely completely, right?

"I can remember Seattle Slew being bought for $17,000, how amazing that was.

Now we got this horse for $35,000. In Seattle Slew dollars, he was probably

cheaper.

"I want to mention there was some karma today because it was Cinco de Mayo,

right, and we rode the Mexican rider," Reddam quipped before describing why he

tabbed Gutierrez. "I don't know if he won or not (when I saw him ride in

California), but he really looked good in the irons to me. I said, 'We need to

try some new blood.'"

"He broke sharp, as he usually do," Gutierrez explained. "He's such a

professional horse. He's a really calm horse. I know he was going to help me 100

percent through the first part. In the end, he just give 100 percent all the

time. As soon as you ask him, he throws everything on the race, and he didn't

disappoint today.

"I know my horse was reaching every single step of the way, but I wasn't

going to stop riding until I was passing the wire. That is when the horse race

is finished."

"You know Mario, by midstretch the first time around, just had great

position; really had a trouble-free trip," O'Neill said. "I love the way Mario

said he really stretched for him down the lane. That's what we've been seeing

here.

"Since he's come from California, he's maintained that long, beautiful

stride. I love the way he carries his head. He's such a beautiful, talented

colt. The way he handled the crowd today, incredible."

Bodemeister just held the late run of Dullahan to take second by a neck with

Went the Day Well completing the top four under the wire another three parts of

a length back.

"I'm very disappointed, but at the same time I'm just so proud of him. He's

brilliant. He really is," jockey Mike Smith said of Bodemeister. "He was flying

leaving there. He was two in front leaving the gate. He didn't finish first, but

he's still the winner. He's such a free running horse that I couldn't take that

away from him. At the top of the stretch, I really thought we had it, but I knew

we were in trouble when I saw Doug's (O'Neil) horse coming."

I'll Have Another began his racing career on the synthetic tracks in

California, taking his maiden debut on Hollywood Park's Cushion Track prior to a

runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes over Del Mar's Polytrack. The

chestnut son of Flower Alley tried a conventional dirt track when closing out

his juvenile campaign with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at

Saratoga and wouldn't be seen in competition again for five months.

I'll Have Another returned to California over the winter and made his

sophomore bow a 2 3/4-length upset in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes when sent off

at 43-1, but proved that win to be no fluke when gutting out a nose score in the

Santa Anita Derby in his final prep for the Run for the Roses.

He is the first winner of both the Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby since

legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham saddled California-based Sunday Silence to

accomplish the feat in 1989 en route to Horse of the Year and champion

three-year-old Eclipse Award honors.

"Having the Santa Anita Derby winner win the Kentucky Derby, we're carrying

the flag for Southern California," O'Neill said. "Any horsemen that have any

interest in beautiful weather and good purses, come to Southern California,

because it's a great place to train, a great place to live. I can't say enough

about Southern California.

"When I first started, Charlie Whittingham was the man. I remember being on

the trainer's stand with him just in awe of him. So to be the next guy who has

won the Santa Anita Derby and the Kentucky Derby, it's just an unbelievable

honor.

"I think the game plan now, as long as he comes out of it good right now, is

to stay at Churchill and head to Pimlico," O'Neill added. "He likes this track."

Sold at auction for $11,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, I'll Have

Another was then purchased by Dennis O'Neill, his trainer's brother, for $35,000

as a two-year-old in training at OBS last April.