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"  A half hour after the running of the Kentucky Derby, the victorious connections of the winner Orb\u2014owners Ogden Mills Phipps and Stuart Janney III, trainer Shug McGaughey, and jockey Joel Rosario\u2014headed over to the Kentucky Derby Museum next to the Churchill Downs grandstand to accept a set of prized time pieces from Longines, the official timekeeper of the Derby. According to their chronometer, Orb had covered the mile-and-a-quarter in 2:02.89\u2014a final time that doesn&amp;#039;t tell the tale of how he earned his victory, on a soupy track where he had to run extremely wide around the final turn before completely overpowering the field. This wasn&amp;#039;t a Mine That Bird\u2013type victory, where the winner took the shortest, rail-skimming route to wire. Only a superior and serious racehorse can circle a huge field like the one in the Derby and still win by a widening margin. When I had a chance, I congratulated the Longines people on their good luck. They should have a great ride with Orb. It&amp;#039;s going to get even more fun in the weeks to come. I think this horse has the best chance to take the Triple Crown\u2014something that hasn&amp;#039;t been done now since Affirmed in 1978 and has only happened eleven times in racing history\u2014since Smarty Jones fell short in 2004. Here&amp;#039;s why: Orb is a magnificently bred animal whose Derby win was the most dominant since the ill-fated Barbaro seven years ago. He simply toyed with this field and was able to make his own racing luck, a key in any Derby, when most of the 3-year-olds begin to hit the wall with a furlong to go. If anything, Orb looked like he wanted even more distance. Second, I don&amp;#039;t see any of the horses who came out of the race as real threats\u2014certainly not in that short list of Derby runners pointed to take another shot at Orb two weeks from now in the Preakness. Mylute\u2014whom I wound up betting in the race\u2014made a nice move to just miss the photo for third place, but I&amp;#039;d wager that he peaked with his best performance on Saturday. I don&amp;#039;t see him improving on the short fourteen-day break. Itsmyluckyday has now thrown in two clunkers since he showed his best racing foot early this winter. Goldencents was in the garden spot on the backstretch of the Derby but had nothing when they hit the turn. Same for Oxbow. Those horses need a break, not another match-up with Orb. Only Departing, who won the Illinois Derby and has been pointed to the Preakness, looks to be an improving threat. The Belmont may be another story. Revolutionary, third in the Derby, will be rested, and trainer Todd Pletcher has stated that his preliminary plans are to train the colt up to the June 8 race. But if anyone knows how to win the third leg of the Triple Crown, it&amp;#039;s Shug, and Orb\u2014unlike a lot of the horses since 1978 who have won the first two legs of the Crown only to fizzle in New York\u2014is bred to last the demanding mile-and-a-half distance of the Belmont. And in Rosario he&amp;#039;s got one of the wiliest jockeys on the planet, who can win what is frequently described as a rider&amp;#039;s race, a challenge of tactics and racing smarts. Simply put, this is a standout colt who is flourishing in a year when the rest of the three-year-old crop is weaker than most. There have been great colts who happened to be born in the wrong year\u2014Sham, Alydar, Shug&amp;#039;s own 1988 star, Easy Goer. They ran up against worthy challengers (ever heard of Secretariat and Affirmed?). That&amp;#039;s not the case in 2013. This year, there&amp;#039;s simply no one on the backstretch who looks capable of matching an improving Orb in the next two races. He will need some racing luck, for sure, but if Orb can duplicate the power and versatility he demonstrated on Saturday, it&amp;#039;s light&amp;#039;s out. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/sporting/a1056/kentucky-derby-2013/>