Mendelssohn? My Boy Jack? What happened to the other 19 horses in the Derby?

Justify got the Kentucky Derby trip that everybody else was afraid of, and that meant 19 others were running for second.

The Derby favorite broke well, went to the front and stuck just outside of pace-setter Promises Fulfilled in the early stages of Saturday’s race before taking over into the final turn and proving himself to be the best in his class down the stretch.

The opening fractions — the first quarter-mile in :22.24 and the first half in :45.77 — were hot, but Justify held on. No one else had much of a chance.

What happened to the rest of the field over the sloppy Churchill Downs track?

Good Magic — the 2-year-old champ and Blue Grass Stakes — raced to the first turn just inside of Justify and tucked in behind Promises Fulfilled, about a length behind the two leaders. Down the backstretch, he settled in between long-shot Flameaway on his inside and Bolt d’Oro on his outside, never getting too far behind Justify and those fast fractions.

On the far turn, Good Magic started to make his move, and — almost — drew even with Justify heading into the stretch. He would never get closer to the winner.

“I thought he had a good shot turning for home,” said trainer Chad Brown. “Given the fractions, I was hoping this horse would come back to us. But he’s a superhorse. He just kept going. I thought Jose (Ortiz) gave him a great ride, and he had every chance turning for home. And he just was second-best today.”

Good Magic held off a hard-charging Audible for second place, finishing 2½ lengths behind Justify.

“He showed that he’s a top-class horse,” Brown said of his colt, noting that he was good enough to win the Derby in many other years. “Just not this one,” he added.

Audible, the Florida Derby winner trained by Todd Pletcher, found himself surrounded in the early stages, settled in several lengths behind the pace into the first turn and down the backstretch, and finally found some room to run at the top of the stretch.

Javier Castellano swung him toward the rail, inside a wall of four horses and continued his move into the stretch. He made up some ground there, but not nearly enough. Good Magic got him by a head at the wire.

“It felt like if he had just got a little better position during the first three-quarters of the race, he’d have been right there,” Pletcher said. “He was still finishing strongly.”

Instilled Regard — the longest shot on the board at 85-1 — had a bit of a rough start, getting knocked off track right out of the gate by Magnum Moon to his outside. Instilled Regard raced in 17th for the first three-quarters and was running well into the stretch when a hole opened up for him to skip home over the mud and finish fourth, nearly two lengths behind Good Magic and Audible.

Crowd favorite My Boy Jack, who was bet down to the 6-1 second choice from his 30 morning-line odds, went to the back of the pack — as is his style — and was actually 20th and last as the leaders were in the final turn.

He appeared to check as he made his move, then went widest of all into the stretch under Kent Desormeaux and picked off horses from there, coming home strong and finishing fifth.

“He got stopped cold,” said trainer Keith Desormeaux. “Love, love, love his heart.”

Another length behind My Boy Jack at the wire was 66-1 shot Bravazo, who went wide into the first turn, raced in the middle of the pack down the backstretch and made a nice move in the final turn, coming into the stretch wide and finishing sixth for legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Hofburg — trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott — finished strongly for seventh after a rough trip.

Long-shot Lone Sailor finished eighth but was never a factor.

Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso finished ninth after racing in 18th for much of the race. John Velazquez, the winning jockey of last year’s Derby, chose to ride Vino Rosso over third-place finisher Audible.

“Basically, Johnny said he didn’t think he liked the track, even warming up,” Pletcher said. “Just never got a hold of it. Basically a toss out for him.”

Long-shot Solomini, who was last through the first half-mile, finished 10th. Another long shot, Firenze Fire, was fifth with a quarter-mile to go but faded to 11th.

Bolt d’Oro — one of the favorites at 8-1 — was just off the leaders for much of race and tried to make his move with Justify as they headed around the final turn, but he had nothing left in the tank.

Victor Ezpinoza put the whip away early in the stretch, and they came home in 12th.

“Victor said he tapped him a few times and when he didn’t respond, he knew he was in trouble and he just didn’t feel like beating him up,” said trainer Mick Ruis.

Flameaway faded to 13th after running just off the leaders for much of the way.

Enticed never factored into the race and finished 14th. Pace-setter Promises Fulfilled faded to 15th, and long-shot Free Drop Billy was 16th.

Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy broke well from the 19 post and was in the back of the lead pack early before finishing 17th. Combatant was never a factor and finished 18th.

Magnum Moon — the undefeated Arkansas Derby winner — was never a threat after a jumbled start from the auxiliary gate and finished 19th under jockey Luis Saez.

“Luis said he didn’t break well,” Pletcher said. “Didn’t like the track. Didn’t like the kickback.”

Mendelssohn, who won the UAE Derby by more than 18 lengths, broke from the outside post of the main gate and was knocked off stride at the very beginning by the rush of auxiliary gate horses coming down. He continued to have a rough go of it as they ran into the first turn, where Ryan Moore raced him to the back of the lead pack. He started to fade as they went into the final turn. Mendelssohn finished last.

“He got beat up out of the gate and proceeded to check on the first turn and was never in a good place,” Moore said. “The race was over then.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Mendelssohn? My Boy Jack? What happened to the other 19 horses in the Derby?."