British raider seeks Kentucky win

Awesome Act will be ridden by Julien Leparoux on Saturday

The trainer of British raider Awesome Act was happy with the draw in Saturday's Kentucky Derby but favourite Lookin At Lucky was not so fortunate.

Jeremy Noseda's colt was drawn on the outside - in stall 16 of 20 - while the favourite, trained by Bob Baffert, was right on the rail in stall number 1.

Tens of thousands are expected to flock to Churchill Downs for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

No British-trained horse has ever won the Kentucky Derby.

Horses drawn right on the rails can be squeezed out when the runners turn into the straight, unless they have the speed to get out in front.

"We just have to hope our horse runs huge. I just don't remember a horse of this calibre being in the one hole since I've come here," said three-time Kentucky Derby winner Baffert.

The last horse to win from the number 1 stall was Ferdinand in 1986.

Awesome Act, a best priced 10-1 shot, is jointly owned by Susan Roy, wife of the British Horseracing Authority chairman Paul, and Vinery Stables.

The favourite, Lookin At Lucky, has got a bad draw

Tom Ludt, president of Vinery, said he was happy with the draw and added: "Obviously, we didn't want the 'one' and we didn't get that, so it shouldn't have any impact on us.

"It should give us a chance to break and get comfortable. I didn't want to be out there on the lead, so I'm happy about it."

Awesome Act, trained at Newmarket, won the Gotham Stakes, at the Aqueduct in New York last month but no British-trained horse has ever won the Kentucky Derby.

Weather forecasters say there is a 60 per cent chance of rain, which could turn the track into a quagmire similar to last year, when 50-1 shot Mine That Bird won.

Devil May Care, drawn 11, is trying to become only the fourth filly ever to win the Derby, known as The Run For The Roses.

Around 10,000 people turned up to see the horses being put through their paces on the course this week.

This is the 136th running of the Derby and the race is being attended by dozens of celebrities, as well as thousands of ordinary punters.

Actress Diane Lane, who plays a horse owner in a movie about the 1973 Triple Crown winning filly Secretariat due out later this year, said: "I'm just riveted. I can't wait. Bring on the rain. I don't care."

Lane, who was attending her first Kentucky Derby, said: "I'm not a betting person. The last time I bet on a horse I bet the number five because that was my age."

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