142nd Preakness

LOUISVILLE, KY. — For a brief moment, as tears filled Todd Pletcher’s steel-blue eyes, the normally dispassionate trainer let the world see how it felt for him to cast aside the weight of so many Kentucky Derby disappointments.

Pletcher knows the narrative all too well. Despite winning a record seven Eclipse Awards for Top Trainer and ranking as the leading purse winner in history at age 49, he’s the guy who’s saddled almost 50 horses for the Derby and won just once.

Make that twice. TV:

Because on Saturday, Always Dreaming, a horse who’d never even run in a stakes race before the start of April, swept over a rain-soaked track to win the 143rd Derby at Churchill Downs. He was the fifth consecutive favorite to take the $2-million race.

“The first 25 times, I felt like I had to defend my record,” Pletcher said when asked about his Derby history. “But this week, it felt like others were defending it for me for some reason. To me, I felt like I really needed that second one.”

He even grinned a little when asked if the silver goatee he’s sported lately is lucky. “I think I’m going to have a tough time shaving it now,” he said.

Jockey John Velazquez also won his second Derby aboard Always Dreaming. He took the colt out fast, passing early leader Battle Of Midway just before the 3⁄4-mile pole.

“I just waited for the competition to press me a little,” he said. “When I asked him, he stretched the lead. They were