Calvin Borel's 2011 Kentucky Derby Mount

Written by Jake Thompson
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 17:39

Can Calvin Borel pull off Kentucky Derby magic on a long shot underdog this year?

Many horse racing insiders are predicting that Calvin Borel’s 2011 Kentucky Derby mount Twice The Appeal could go off as the race long shot, and we wanted to take a second to look at both the jockey and the horse.  I simply can’t see Twice The Appeal being the largest Kentucky Derby underdog this year, and the Borel-factor alone will have casual bettors throwing down money on this horse simply because of this jockey’s dominance at Churchill Downs.

After coming up empty for a few years in the Kentucky Derby, Borel started to make a name for himself with a 2007 win aboard Street Sense.  He then came up empty in 2008 before again coming up huge with a 50-1 winner in 2009 on Mine That Bird.  Borel wasn’t done yet, and again claimed the 2010 Kentucky Derby while making a perfect rail trip down the stretch on Super Saver.  The Churchill Downs expert has had so much success on this track that he’s only the 2nd jockey in the history of horse racing to win 1,000 career races here.

That being said, Borel can only do so much and I’m not sure Twice The Appeal stacks up to the rest of the 2011 Kentucky Derby field.  The horse is coming off a win in the Sunland Derby but the level of competition simply wasn’t close to as high as many of the other Kentucky Derby prep races that other entries have competed in.  Before the Sunland Derby win, Twice The Appeal was a disappointing 4th in another relatively weak field during the Turf Paradise Derby.

Twice The Appeal took 4 tries before breaking his maiden and doesn’t look to be fast enough with a career high Beyer of just 89.  As the Kentucky Derby lineup stands now, only Watch Me Go (84) will have a lower best Beyer speed figure when the horses get into the starting gate on May 7th.  The good news for Borel and his mount is that Twice The Appeal is perfect when the track is sloppy and we’ve seen some wet tracks in recent editions of the Kentucky Derby.

The pedigree suggests more of a sprint horse but Twice The Appeal did show a nice late move in the Sunland Derby win.  We know Borel will have this horse in a good position but I’m just not sure it’s in the cards this year for the annual Kentucky Derby superstar.  The field is quite strong and I just see other horses that are simply better than Twice The Appeal.  It’s never a good idea to count out Borel, but unless he’s 50-1 or greater like some are predicting, I just don’t see myself including Twice The Appeal in my Kentucky Derby exotic bets.