Secretariat won a virtual Kentucky Derby against a dozen fellow Triple Crown winners on Saturday - 47 years after the chestnut colt won the real race at Louisville's Churchill Downs.
The 1 1/4-mile race featuring computer-generated imagery was held the same day the 146th running of the Derby had been scheduled until it was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. The "Run for the Roses" has been rescheduled for Sept. 5.
Two-time horse of the year Secretariat was the 7-2 favorite, although there was no wagering. Instead, fans selecting the winning horse online were entered to win a VIP experience at the Derby this fall. Churchill Downs pledged to match $1 million in fan donations to COVID-19 relief.
The virtual Derby was part of NBC's three-hour telecast that reshowed portions of the 2015 coverage in which American Pharoah won on his way to becoming racing's first Triple Crown champion in 37 years.
The show opened with Churchill Downs bugler Steve Buttleman playing "Call to the Post" from the front steps of his Louisville home. It moved to the track, with shots of empty stands, betting windows and the jockeys' room. The track's stable area is set to reopen May 11, with live racing expected to resume May 16.
"It's weird not being there," Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah, said in an interview from his California home.
Larry Collmus, who calls the Triple Crown races for NBC, provided a live call for the virtual Derby, seeing it unfold for the first time just as he would have been doing on the first Saturday in May.
"That was fun "calling" Secretariat and the other Triple Crown winners," he wrote on Twitter.
A virtual Seattle Slew, who won the 1977 Triple Crown, led much of the way until being overtaken in the stretch. Secretariat surged to the lead in deep stretch in the middle of the track. No margins were provided.
The computer imagery failed to capture the dirt from the track that sticks to the horses running in the back, and there was no noise from the usual Derby day crowd of 150,000 or more. The race lacked the cavalry charge to the first turn that is typical of the usual 20-horse field.
Secretariat swept the 1973 Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, winning the last race by a record 31 lengths.
Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown champion, finished second. Seattle Slew was third. Affirmed, the 1978 champion, was fourth, followed by American Pharoah.
NBC showed the real American Pharoah at Ashford Stud, where a flat-screen TV was set up in front of his stall to show the race. Now 8 years old, he is a successful stallion with a stud fee of $200,000.
Churchill Downs analyzed the historical past performance of each Triple Crown winner and incorporated the opinions of horse racing experts who evaluated each contender's achievements and put them into historical perspective.
That information, known as the fundamental probabilities, was fed into Inspire Entertainment's computer models, which determined the final result by using those probabilities along with random number generation.
The fundamental probabilities only determined the chances of each horse winning. Those with a higher probability value weren't necessarily going to win; they just had a greater chance of doing so.
Also in the race were Assault (1946), Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Justify (2018) and Omaha (1935).
AP photo by Richard Rasmussen / Charlatan, right, with Martin Garcia aboard, leads on the way to winning the first division of the Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs.Good day for Baffert horses
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Charlatan romped to victory by six lengths in the first division of the Arkansas Derby, and Nadal won the second division, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a sweep.
Filling the spot on the calendar typically reserved for the Kentucky Derby, 20 3-year-olds ran in two divisions at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, each worth $500,000. Each race was worth 170 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, including 100 to the winners.
It was the first time since 1960 that the race was split.
No fans were allowed because of the pandemic on a day that would have been the biggest of the season at Oaklawn.
Charlatan improved to 3-0 after not racing at age 2. His first two wins by a combined 16 lengths came at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, where the colt is based.
He broke from the No. 1 post in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile race under Martin Garcia, who was replacing Drayden Van Dyke for the race. Charlatan was timed in 1:48.49 and paid $2.80 to win.
"He did in all within himself," Garcia said. "I felt someone coming at the three-eighths (pole), and I let him go. He just took off. That's a sign of a really good horse."
Basin finished second, and Gouverneur Morris was another neck back in third. Winning Impression finished fourth.
Nadal, named for tennis star Rafael Nadal, won his division in 1:48.34 and improved to 4-0.
"He looked good, very good race," winning jockey Joel Rosario said. "He's a champ."
King Guillermo, owned by former MLB catcher Victor Martinez, finished second. Finnick the Fierce, a 60-1 shot, was third.
It was Baffert's third win in the Arkansas Derby.
"I thought both horses were going to run really well," Baffert said. "Charlatan, what a talent he is and how fast he is. Nadal, he's a tough horse. There's a lot to him and he's a cool customer, and I could see he's getting better and better."
The race was supposed to be on April 11, but Oaklawn reworked its stakes schedule to run it on closing day Saturday and split it into divisions because of the large number of horses that were entered.