Kentucky Derby 2012 Results: I'll Have Another a Hopeless Triple Crown Candidate

I’ll Have Another’s request will be denied.

In the 2012 Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon, the thoroughbred unleashed his inner-Kobe Bryant. He seemingly darted out of nowhere to pass Bodemeister in the race’s final moments. Whether the horse was intentionally bred with a clutch gene or not, I’ll Have Another won’t be able to pull off two more miraculous finishes to complete the Triple Crown.

According to the New York Times’ Joe Drape, though, I’ll Have Another’s trainer Doug O’Neill needs to focus on the Preakness Stakes. Winning back-to-back races will be difficult enough. The last thing owner Paul Reddam needs is a lack of focus on the now.

Looking ahead to the potential Triple Crown opportunity, O’Neill said, “I get goose bumps just thinking about it. I think he is the kind of horse who can maintain his form and keep it going.”

I’ll Have Another needed luck to trot away with a triumph at Churchill Downs, though. The odds are stacked heavily against him to string together two more upset victories. Sporting News has the numbers:

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A 15-1 in the Derby, he’d be, by far, the Derby winner with the longest odds to complete the Triple Crown sweep, according to data presented on ESPN. The current record belongs to Assault in 1946, who was 8-1 in that year’s Derby, and went on to win the Triple Crown. Omaha in ’35 was 4-1 in the Derby; Whirlaway in ’41 was 3-1; Sir Barton in ’19 was 5-2; and Affirmed, the last Triple Crown winner, was 2-1 in the ’78 Run for the Roses.

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If I’ll Have Another somehow, someway manages to pull off yet another W, somebody in Hollywood better start to piece together a movie. No horse has completed the United States Triple Crown since 1978 and if such an incredible underdog were to make it happen, the story would be film-worthy.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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