From No Hope to First Place

This is such a wonderful race story: This horse is owned by a couple of cowboys, purchased for $9500, and with such poor stud prospects was gelded, had a 4th place finish somewhere in New Mexico, which was just enough wins to "qualify" for the Kentucky Derby. The owners said, "What the heck" and trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. drove Mine That Bird in a trailer pulled by his Ford pick-up to the Kentucky Derby while Co-owner Mark Allen's pick-up truck broke down on the way there. As expected, the horse started in last place in a field of 19, but at least the owners could say he ran in the Kentucky Derby. He was so far back that when you see the video of the pack of horses running you can't even see Mine That Bird. He stayed in last place through 3/4 of the race. Ridden by Calvin Borel, a jockey who couldn't get a better mount and only met the horse 6 days earlier, he comes up on the inside in the last 1/4 of the race and beats the whole field by almost 7 lengths. The announcer doesn’t even mention #8 Mine that Bird until he is already 2 lengths ahead of the pack. It's a 2 minute race that is wonderful to see from NBC news. It's the kind of story with 50-1 odds that Hollywood would make a movie about it.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30538272/
Rennie