An Afterthought Runs to the Fore

LOUISVILLE

It was no day for Nick Zito, who brought his own "Fab Five," one-quarter of the field. George Steinbrenner lost another one and Red Sox Nation can rejoice again. A sentimental favorite in Afleet Alex made his bid but came up short. Instead, the 131st Kentucky Derby turned out to be every long-shot player's dream. A 50-1 horse came home to pay the second-biggest price in Kentucky Derby history. The blanket of roses went to Giacomo.

Giacomo?

Most of the talk on the Churchill Downs backstretch had been about Steinbrenner's Bellamy Road, the biggest and most likely winner among the five in Zito's stable. Popular thinking was, if Steinbrenner's horse didn't win, one of the other Zito horses would.

Then there was Afleet Alex, who had so many heartwarming stories attached to him, many thought him likely to follow the hoof prints of Funny Cide and Smarty Jones.

Giacomo?

Sired by Holy Bull? Ridden by the capable Mike Smith, 39 and running out of chances to win the Derby after 11 tries? Hardly anyone was paying attention.

Nothing Giacomo did in his workouts suggested a big race, turned heads, lowered the odds. Few horses win the Derby without winning a race as a 3-year-old; Giacomo didn't figure.

But hindsight is never sharper than at a racetrack. And there was plenty of it late Saturday, once all the torn tickets blew away and the visibility improved.

Had anyone looked far enough, all the way out to California, it could be seen that Giacomo had shown he could cover a distance. He never registered much of a speed figure. But he did finish second in the Hollywood Futurity in December to 2-year-old champion Declan's Moon, originally thought to be the best of the current crop before he was injured. And there was this: Smith said that Giacomo reminded him of another horse he had ridden, none other than the great Holy Bull, who had the misfortune of finishing 12th in the 1994 Derby. Again, hardly anyone was listening.

Even early in the Derby, Giacomo gave little hint of what was to come. Breaking out of the No. 10 post position, he immediately was pushed back into traffic.

He ran wide on the first turn. He was 18th and seemingly going nowhere. Hardly anyone was looking that far back in the field for the winner. Bellamy Road was second after a mile, Afleet Alex sixth. Both were on the move. So was Giacomo. He had "closed" to 11th.