Mexican jockey Mario Gutierrez rode odds-on favorite Nyquist to victory in the 142nd Kentucky Derby at the Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, capturing the first jewel of the Triple Crown.
Gutierrez rode I’ll Have Another to Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins in 2012, but the horse was unable to compete in the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in the Triple Crown.
“One race at a time,” Gutierrez said in response to a question after Saturday’s race about whether Nyquist has a chance to win the Triple Crown.
Last year, Victor Espinoza, another Mexican jockey, was at the reins when American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
Affirmed had been the last horse to win the Triple Crown, taking the most coveted prize in horse racing in 1978.
American Pharoah ended the longest streak without a Triple Crown winner in the history of American horse racing, with 13 horses losing in the Belmont Stakes after winning the first two races in the series.
The previous longest stretch without a Triple Crown winner was 25 years, spanning the time from Citation’s victory in 1948 to Secretariat’s win in 1973.
A total of 167,227 people were at Churchill Downs to watch Nyquist’s run to victory.
