Horse Racing News on May 1, 2010

It stormed all morning; thunder and lightning, hail and wind, enough rain to float a Noah's Ark

Jockey Calvin Borel steered Super Saver through the mud to win his third Kentucky Derby in four years. The win ended trainer Todd Pletcher's Derby drought.

Phola's ascension into a top-flight turf filly continued Saturday at Churchill Downs as the daughter of Johannesburg unleashed a powerful kick down the stretch to sweep past the field and win the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile by 1 1/4 lengths.

Last year, at age 2, Hot Dixie Chick won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga. Buckleupbuttercup? She won a $30,000 maiden-claimer.

Before Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Humana Distaff, California invader Mona De Momma had never raced on dirt, much less a sloppy track - yet it was never apparent in her Humana performance.

Tom McCarthy, the local school principal turned owner and trainer, could not turn last year's Kentucky Derby into a storybook finish with his lone horse, General Quarters, but he returned a year later and won the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic.

Rain pummeled Churchill Downs early Saturday, turning the historic track into a soggy mess for the Kentucky Derby, the latest wild card in a week full of them.