Lord Miles won the Wood Memorial at 59-1 odds. Does he have any magic left for the Derby?

Editor’s note: Lord Miles was scratched from the 2023 Kentucky Derby after this article was originally published.

In the aftermath of Rich Strike’s historic triumph in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, long-shot entrants in this year’s Derby field are expected to get more attention than in most years.

It’s the natural reaction one year after a horse at 80-1 odds won the most prestigious event in horse racing, which marked the second-longest odds for a Derby winner in the event’s 148-year history.

This Saturday evening, Kentucky Derby 149 will feature its own cast of far-fetched hopefuls.

Chief among that list is Lord Miles: a descendant of a horse with no eyes, a son of the legendary Curlin, trained by a rising star from Barbados and ridden by an assertive jockey from Mexico.

Lord Miles a least-likely contender in Kentucky Derby

Let’s start with the facts that made Lord Miles a headline-maker on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Lord Miles was sixth on the Kentucky Derby qualifying points leaderboard with 105 points. All but five of those points were earned in early April after he prevailed as a shocking 59-1 shot in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York.

The Wood Memorial race tape makes for fascinating viewing: Lord Miles stalked while situated in the top four for the entirety of the race before being moved to the outside by jockey Paco Lopez for the stretch run.

Lord Miles then narrowly won a three-horse duel to the finish line that also featured the Brad Cox-trained race favorite Hit Show, who will also run in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

Even then, the work wasn’t done: Lord Miles had to survive a postrace inquiry to stand as the winner by a nose.

All four of Lord Miles’ previous races were in Florida. He won only one of those.

Postrace, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. — a 36-year-old, third-generation horseman from Barbados who saddled 16th-place White Abarrio in last year’s Kentucky Derby — said the connections’ “dreams have become reality” with Lord Miles winning the Wood Memorial.

The financial facts of the situation further confirm just how shocking it is that Lord Miles is set to make the Derby gate.

Among the top eight horses on the Derby qualifying leaderboard, Lord Miles has the least non-restricted stakes earnings ($427,100) for his racing career.

Lord Miles will break from post No. 18, and was given morning-line odds of 30-1.

Historically speaking, that’s not a great place to be: Only two horses have won the Derby from post No. 18 among 35 all-time starters.

Lord Miles has winning genes despite lack of consistent success

On the surface, Lord Miles has the genes of a horse that should be vastly better than his career 2-0-1 mark in five career starts.

The bay horse was sired by Curlin, the legendary horse who won 11 of 16 career starts, including the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby, Preakness Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2007, as well as American Horse of the Year honors in 2007 and 2008.

But in most of his races against quality opposition, Lord Miles has flopped.

He was sixth in February in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, which also featured Kentucky Derby contender Rocket Can and Cyclone Mischief, who sits just one spot outside the projected Derby field.

One month later, Lord Miles ran fifth in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby against opposition that included Tapit Trice, who won both that race as well as the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

Those horses aside, the fields for the Holy Bull, Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial were uninspiring.

And generally speaking, Lord Miles put up lackluster showings against that competition: He didn’t record a Beyer speed figure above 80 until the Wood Memorial, when he posted a 93.

Lord Miles’ tendencies across his five career starts have been to break slow out of the gate, with the ability close well and pick off horses that fade near the end of races. That is, if Lord Miles hasn’t already been sent to the back of the field by better horses prior to the turn for home.

Something that should serve to Lord Miles’ benefit on Saturday, though? Having Lopez back in the saddle.

This will be the third straight race that Lopez rides Lord Miles. He’s known as an aggressive jockey, and Lord Miles’ best Beyer speed figures have come with Lopez aboard.

Both Lopez and Joseph are without a finisher in the money in two prior Derby trips: The duo combined to finish eighth with Ny Traffic in 2020.

Adding further character to the already endearing story of Lord Miles is that he represents a first Derby trip for his Vegso Racing Stable ownership.

If that name sounds familiar, it’s might be a callback to bookstore shelves: Peter Vegso is the founding publisher of the popular “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series.

Saturday will be first time Vegso has a horse in the Derby in three decades as an owner of race horses.

Lord Miles’ preparations for his big day are coming into clear focus as well: He worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 on Friday morning at Gulfstream Park in Florida, and arrived at Churchill Downs on Sunday.

On Monday morning, he made his first on-track appearance in Louisville by jogging one mile.

But for all the factors, on paper at least, that signal Derby Day struggles for Lord Miles, a look back to Joseph’s comments following the Wood Memorial might inspire faith that the horse still has another strong, surprising run left in the tank.

“Early in my career I was scared to take a chance,” Joseph said. “But I learned I have nothing to lose by taking chances and a lot to gain.”

This story was originally published May 1, 2023 at 10:01 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

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Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription