Angel Of Empire Wins, King Russell Places (At 58-1), And Reincarnate Shows

Angel of Empire proved his love of distance and his power as he took the Arkansas Derby by four and a half lengths on Saturday at Oaklawn, cementing his Derby bid and notching up his trainer Brad Cox’s second consecutive win of the $1.25-million stakes. He did it with a texbook stretch run.

In the early going in seventh, Angel of Empire had been laying sixth into the far turn, but at the top of the stretch moved up smartly under jockey Flavien Prat bring the run. In particular, in his ultimate gesture, with sovereign ease he overtook the hard-grinding longshot King Russell, who, at 58-1, brought some smiles and high-fives to the players of exotics as he threw a wrench into the works and placed in front of second-favorite Reincarnate. Reincarnate had gone off at a flat 3-1. The top favorite in the odds, Rocket Can, ran fourth, having started the race at 5-2.