Kentucky Derby Results 2014: California Chrome's Win a Sign of Things to Come

For all of the praise California Chrome received after his dominant win at the Kentucky Derby, he wasn't the fastest horse down the stretch. 

According to Trakus, it was long shot Commanding Curve who clocked the most blazing splits on the final quarter and an eighth of the 10-furlong track:

And it didn't matter. 

California Chrome was so good for the first three quarters of the race, sticking close to the early pacesetters before eventually pulling away to a massive lead down the stretch, that it didn't matter when Shaun Bridgmohan and Commanding Curve came barreling towards the finish line in the final seconds. 

Here's a look at the race and full results:

Pos.	Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Winning Time/Lengths
1	5	California Chrome	Victor Espinoza	Art Sherman	2:03.66
2	17	Commanding Curve	Shaun Bridgmohan	Dallas Stewart	1 3/4
3	4	Danza	Joe Bravo	Todd Pletcher	3
4	20	Wicked Strong	Rajiv Maragh	Jimmy Jerkens	5 3/4
5	6	Samraat	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	5 3/4
6	12	Dance With Fate	Corey Nakatani	Peter Eurton	6 1/4
7	19	Ride On Curlin	Calvin Borel	Billy Gowan	6 3/4
8	14	Medal Count	Robby Albarado	Dale Romans	7 1/2
9	13	Chitu	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	8
10	7	We Miss Artie	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	8 1/4
11	8	General A Rod	Joel Rosario	Mike Maker	8 1/4
12	16	Intense Holiday	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	9
13	18	Candy Boy	Gary Stevens	John Sadler	11 3/4
14	3	Uncle Sigh	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Gary Contessa	15
15	15	Tapiture	Ricardo Santana Jr.	Steve Asmussen	16 1/4
16	2	Harry's Holiday	Corey Lanerie	Mike Maker	22 1/2
17	9	Vinceremos	Joe Rocco Jr.	Todd Pletcher	28
18	10	Wildcat Red	Luis Saez	Jose Garoffalo	28 1/4
19	1	Vicar's In Trouble	Rosie Napravnik	Mike Maker	38 1/4
	11	Hoppertunity	Mike Smith	Bob Baffert	SCR

Whether it's because jockey Victor Espinoza knew he had the win in the bag and began to let up, or California Chrome was actually losing steam, you can see the major lead shrink in the final seconds. 

And once again, it doesn't matter. 

The Preakness is just 9 and 1/2 furlongs, so the three-year-old colt can afford to once again get out with the early pack and not have to worry about losing his momentum down the final stretch.

This year's Derby was historically slow. According to The Washington Post's Andrew Beyer, California Chrome's winning time of two minutes and 3.66 seconds was the slowest on a fast track since 1974, and his Beyer Speed Figure of 97 was the lowest ever for either a Derby or Preakness winner. 

Guess what? It doesn't matter. 

The pace dictated those numbers more than California Chrome actually did, as the star colt's blazing best-ever Beyer Speed Figure of 108, which came in a win, suggests he can handle a shorter race like the Preakness even if the pace forces him to exude more energy in the first couple of turns. 

While California Chrome's win at Churchill Downs was aesthetically pleasing, the numbers may have actually been somewhat underwhelming. But ultimately, there was nothing to suggest this talented horse won't continue his quest for a Triple Crown at Pimlico in two weeks.