Always Dreaming wins soggy 143rd Kentucky Derby

Ripping up France's political map, French voters elected independent centrist Emmanuel Macron as the country's youngest president Sunday, delivering a resounding victory to the unabashedly pro-European former investment banker and dashing the populist dream of far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

Saturday, on an off track at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., veteran rider John Velazquez was the difference in the Kentucky Derby.

Always Dreaming wasn't going to make any dreams come true but lucky exotic players had a very nice Kentucky Derby.

For Pletcher, this Kentucky Derby victory is a different kind of validation.

The weather everyone in central Kentucky had been awaiting for four days finally arrived on Kentucky Derby night and bright blue skies with cool temperatures greeted those visiting the barns on the backside the morning after.

Purchased in September 2015 at Keeneland in Kentucky for $350,000 - Bonomo joked that his son, Anthony Jr., "overspent", but that he no longer believes so - Always Dreaming had done all of this after his hiatus last summer and fall after Pletcher took him on last early September.

Velazquez and Always Dreaming fired out of the gate and sailed along the sodden track as if riding the tide. When he won the Florida Derby on April 1 by a commanding five lengths, the question wasn't talent but whether he would have the experience to handle the 20-horse field and the fast pace. "He got to relax and then waited to the quarter pole and he responded right away".

Always Dreaming paid $11.40, $7.20, $5.80 for a $2 bet.

Morning-line favorite Classic Empire ran well to finish fourth. Lookin at Lee, a 33-1 shot, returned $26.60, $15.20, while 40-1 choice Battle of Midway paid $20.80. But Asmussen tipped his hat to Pletcher's horse, who would not allow the distance to close.

"I sensed we had a problem there", Pletcher said.

"We're just here having some fun, watching some horses, and winning some money actually", Caleb Farrabi said.

"[Jockey] Mike [Smith] said I should run [Girvin] back in the Preakness or Belmont", trainer Joe Sharp said.

"The most important thing to do is bring the best horse to the Derby, and that's what we were able to do."Always Dreaming earned his fourth straight victory, proving that his five-length win in the Florida Derby was no fluke.By winning the Derby, he accomplished something his sire Bodemeister couldn't do". The most recent Triple Crown victor, American Pharaoh, won all three races in 2015, becoming the first horse to do so since 1978.

The dark bay colt was hard to train in the days leading to the Derby, forcing Pletcher to adjust his equipment. He bucked, balked, bolted and basically acted like a child being hauled to summer school.

"There were a few anxious moments earlier in the week", Pletcher said. "A lot of times it doesn't", Pletcher said of the strategy devised with Bonomo and Viola.

Pletcher said Tapwrit, who finished sixth on Saturday, and Patch, who ran 14th, both came out of the race well and will be shipped to Belmont Park in NY.

Pletcher was 1 for 45 in the Derby when the gates popped open, a number that even he found troubling.

The day wasn't just about the horses. "The first one was extra special". Once I was going forward, for the first time, I was happy where I was. Calvin Borel was aboard that day. Velazquez won it a year later aboard Animal Kingdom.

Many French voters backed Macron reluctantly, not because they agreed with his politics but simply to keep out Le Pen and her far-right National Front party, which is still tainted by its long anti-Semitic and racist history.

Saturday, in front of 158,070 drenched spectators, they were on the same team as they have been so many times in the past.

"He's an incredible horse", Velazquez told NBC Sports after the victory. "That made me confident he could handle the fractions he was putting up and have something left for the stretch".