I'll Have Another Surpassed Expectations for O'Neill

Dennis O'Neill had the good fortune to find and purchase at auction two Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum Brands! (G1) winners—I'll Have Another  (2012) and Nyquist  (2016)—both trained by his brother Doug for owner Paul Reddam.

A son of Flower Alley bought for $35,000, I'll Have Another went into Churchill Downs with a 3-1-0 record in five starts, including wins in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) and Santa Anita Derby (G1).

The chestnut colt seemed to blossom Derby week, impressing his connections.

"Every time we took him to the track, we just had goosebumps because he was doing so well in his gallops. It was all coming together," Dennis O'Neill said.

Despite the advice of Derby veterans that schooling in the Churchill Downs paddock was a must, Doug O'Neill resisted. 

"Doug didn't want to school him," Dennis said. "He said, 'I'm not schooling him. He's a smart horse, and if I bring him down there, he will think he's running.'"

On Derby Day, May 5, I'll Have Another was unfazed by the record crowd of 165,307.

"He was just absolutely perfect in the paddock," O'Neill said. "That's when I really started to get excited. I think my goal and Doug's goal was that if he could finish fourth or fifth, that would be a great accomplishment."

Under Mario Gutierrez, who'd never ridden in a race at Churchill Downs, and breaking from post 19, from which no Derby winner had ever broken, I'll Have Another also did not get much respect at the mutuel windows. He was sent off at odds of 15-1.

Bodemeister , the 4-1 Derby favorite, jumped out to the lead and held a three-length advantage after a mile in a blistering 1:35.19. But I'll Have Another, who had settled into sixth down the backstretch, began to make his run rounding the second turn and was in striking position when he entered the stretch in fourth.

REPLAY: I'll Have Another Wins Kentucky Derby 138

"When I saw the 19 pop on the board turning for home, I was going nuts," said O'Neill, who watched the race away from the rest of the I'll Have Another entourage. "I thought Bodemeister was gone, and I was so excited thinking we were going to run second in the Kentucky Derby." 

I'll Have Another collared Bodemeister nearing the sixteenth pole and went on to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

"At about the sixteenth pole, I just remember everything slowing down, and I thought, 'Oh my God, what the hell is going on here?'" the agent said. "I went berserk after they hit the wire and I realized what had happened. It was just surreal, to say the least.

"In the winner's circle, you just kind of sit there and take it all in. It is something Doug and I never thought we would be able to do. Neither of us ever thought we'd win a Triple Crown race."

Subscribe to BloodHorse Daily to view expanded photos of I'll Have Another's victory in the April 26 edition!