Best of the best: Secretariat wins virtual Derby

LEXINGTON, Ky. — For just the second time in nearly 150 years, there was no Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. The 146th Run for the Roses has been postponed until Sept. 5 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But horse racing enthusiasts were still treated to some exciting competition on the Churchill Downs main track — albeit in the form of a simulation that might seem more familiar to fans of “The Matrix” film franchise.

Secretariat stormed down the stretch to win the “Triple Crown Showdown” by a head over Citation on Saturday in the culmination of a three-hour NBC broadcast aimed at celebrating the history and pageantry of the Kentucky Derby.

The race was a computer-simulated matchup of the 13 Triple Crown winners. To pull it off, officials from Churchill Downs worked with tech company Inspired Entertainment. Computer graphics were used to create simulated versions of the race track and grandstand along with fans, and the 13 Triple Crown-winning Thoroughbreds.

Information from the past performances of the horses and analysis from racing experts were among the criteria used to create algorithms which assigned each competitor a “fundamental probability” — the overall chance each horse had to win the race and their likely finishing position.

Veteran oddsmaker Mike Battaglia assigned morning-line odds to each horse using his own research, with no inside information about the algorithms used to create the race. He installed Secretariat, whose record-breaking time of 1:59 2⁄ in

5 the 1973 Kentucky Derby still stands, as the 7-2 favorite.

Moments before the race, analyst Randy Moss said on the broadcast, “If Secretariat doesn’t win this simulated race we’re