Mendelssohn was last in the Derby, but his trainer has big plans. They include a return trip to Louisville.

One disappointing trip to the States isn’t enough to deter Aidan O’Brien.

The celebrated trainer already has a long-term goal in mind for his star 3-year-old Mendelssohn, the impressive UAE Derby winner who endured a grueling trip in the opening moments of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby and finished in last place.

That goal includes another visit to Churchill Downs, and a possible rematch with Kentucky Derby champ Justify in an even richer race.

O’Brien said immediately after the Derby on Saturday that Mendelssohn would return home to Ireland with the plan of coming back to Kentucky six months from now for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will be run at Churchill on Nov. 3.

Mendelssohn broke from post 14 on Saturday — the outside post of the main starting gate and, thus, the closest to the auxiliary gate — and was knocked off stride almost immediately from the rush of horses to his outside.

He was jostled around some more in the rough opening stages of the race, then found some room to run under jockey Ryan Moore going into the first turn, where he settled in at the back of the lead pack, several lengths behind pace-setter Promises Fulfilled and Justify.

Mendelssohn started to fade before they hit the final turn, and he was already out of it by the time they got to the stretch.

“He just got knocked over coming out of the gate and then he got knocked over again going into the first bend, but he'll be fine,” O’Brien said. “He was never used to getting that much kickback. It's a totally different experience, you know, so, we'll be fine. We'll take him home and give him a break and come back (for the Breeders' Cup Classic). We'll look forward to the Classic with him.”

Mendelssohn — a $3 million purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale two years ago — had quite a bit of history to overcome Saturday. No UAE Derby runner had ever finished better than fifth in the Kentucky Derby, no horse whose last prep race was on foreign soil — the UAE Derby is run in Dubai — had won since 1971, and no European-based horse had ever won the Kentucky Derby.

But Mendelssohn was hyped more than any such horse in recent years, and he had the credentials to back it up. He won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in his only other racing trip to America last fall, and O’Brien and Moore were obviously high on his chances.

Both skipped Saturday’s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket — where Moore gave up the mount on race favorite and eventual winner Saxon Warrior, who is trained by O’Brien — so they could follow Mendelssohn to Louisville.

The official Derby race chart had Mendelssohn finishing 53¼ lengths behind Justify, and nearly 25 lengths behind 19th-place finisher Magnum Moon, the previously undefeated Arkansas Derby winner whose erratic start helped cause the logjam at the start.

“He got beat up out the gate and proceeded to check on the first turn and was never in a good place,” Moore said. “The race was over then. The track condition did not bother him he had a rough trip early on.”

Mendelssohn was O’Brien’s sixth Kentucky Derby starter, and he’s still never finished better than fifth with an entry on the first Saturday in May.

O’Brien has had 16 starters in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, finishing second with Giant’s Causeway in 2000 (at Churchill Downs) and Henrythenavigator in 2008.

This story was originally published May 6, 2018 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Mendelssohn was last in the Derby, but his trainer has big plans. They include a return trip to Louisville.."