Kentucky Derby Results: Orb's Convincing Victory Makes Him Preakness Favorite

Orb thundered down the home stretch with authority on Saturday afternoon on a muddy track at Churchill Downs to easily take the first leg of the Triple Crown. He'll surely be the favorite to win in two weeks time at the Preakness Stakes.

The Kentucky Derby on Twitter provided the announcement:

BuzzFeed News provided us with a brilliant shot of the moment just before Orb crossed the finish line:

Orb won the 2013 Kentucky Derby convincingly, finishing the race with a time of 2:02.89—a full length-and-a-half ahead of Golden Soul and Revolutionary, which finished in second and third place, respectively.

Verrazano and Falling Sky shocked nobody by jumping out to an early lead. Both horses are pure sprinters, but they didn't have the stamina to keep up with the pack throughout the entire mile-and-a-quarter race, finishing in 14th place and 19th place, respectively. 

Revolutionary ran a brilliant race to finish in third place, while long-shot Golden Soul finished in second place, making anyone who bet on him to place or show a nice chunk of cash.

Orb's victory from the No. 16 post was the second in the past three years from that spot, per ESPN Stats and Info, and it was the fifth time a horse has won from that spot in the past 19 years:

Below is a list of the payout for the top three performers.

Horse	Win	Place	Show
Orb	$12.80	$7.40	$5.40
Golden Soul	—	$38.60	$19.40
Revolutionary	—	—	$5.40

$2 Exacta: (16-4) paid $981.60; $1 Trifecta: (16-4-3) paid $3,462.80; $1 Superfecta: (16-4-3-5) paid $28,542.00.

Here's a quick look at how every horse finished the race.

Place	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Post
1	Orb	Joel Rosario	Claude R. McGaughey III	16
2	Golden Soul	Robby Albarado	Dallas Stewart	4
3	Revolutionary	Calvin Borel	Todd Pletcher	3
4	Normandy Invasion	Javier Castellano	Chad Brown	5
5	Mylute	Rosie Napravnik	Tom Amoss	6
6	Oxbow	Gary Stevens	D. Wayne Lukas	2
7	Lines of Battle	Ryan Moore	Aidan O'Brien	11
8	Will Take Charge	Jon Court	D. Wayne Lukas	17
9	Charming Kitten	Edgar Prado	Todd Pletcher	15
10	Giant Finish	Jose L. Espinoza	Anthony W. Dutrow	7
11	Overanalyze	Rafael Bejarano	Todd Pletcher	9
12	Palace Malice	Mike Smith	Todd Pletcher	10
13	Java's War	Julien Leparoux	Kenny McPeek	19
14	Verrazano	John R. Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	14
15	Itsmyluckyday	Elvis Trujillo	Eddie Plesa, Jr.	12
16	Frac Daddy	Victor Lebron	Kenny McPeek	18
17	Goldencents	Kevin Krigger	Doug O'Neill	8
18	Vyjack	Garrett Gomez	Rudy Rodriguez	20
19	Falling Sky	Luis Saez	John Terranova II	13

Orb At the Preakness

To this point, there hasn't been any announcement from trainer Claude R. McGaughey III about whether or not Orb will compete at the Preakness Stakes in two weeks time. That said, the way this horse ran against the top competition in the world proves he's capable of achieving greater glory.

McGaughey was understandably exuberant after the race, via the Kentucky Derby:

Orb ran such a strong race that he'll surely be the favorite to win the Preakness, should McGaughey see fit to enter him into the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Jockey Joel Rosario seems to have the golden touch, having won 130 races thus far on various mounts in 2013. The horse/rider combo of Orb and Rosario has the horse-racing world on fire right now. 

Unlike I'll Have Another, who came out of nowhere last year to win the 2012 Derby, Orb descends from legendary bloodlines. The epic nature of Orb's final stretch run put on full display his incomparable pedigree, as he made the other top horses look weak by comparison.

Speculation will run amok as analysts examine this horse's Triple Crown chances from every angle, but to this point there's nary a chink in Orb's armor. Until he loses a big race, he'll be the favorite to win.

Note: Statistics, odds and prior results, unless otherwise indicated, are courtesy of KentuckyDerby.com.

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