I’ll Have Another

I’ll Have Another, (foaled 2009), American racehorse that in 2012 won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but was scratched from the Belmont Stakes, ending his bid for the Triple Crown of American horse racing.

The chestnut colt was foaled in Kentucky, though not by blue-blooded Thoroughbreds. He was sired by Flower Alley, who finished ninth in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, and his dam was Arch’s Gal Edith, who won the only race in which she was ever entered, at Belmont Park in 2005. In 2011 I’ll Have Another was purchased by J. Paul Reddam, who claimed that the horse’s name expressed his response to his wife whenever she baked fresh cookies.

During his career I’ll Have Another was only lightly raced, in part because of a shin injury suffered during his second year. In 2012, as a three-year-old, he was undefeated going into the Kentucky Derby, claiming victory in such major races as the Santa Anita Derby. Despite this he was, at 15–1 odds, the ninth betting choice out of a field of 20 at the Kentucky Derby. Bodemeister, the crowd favourite (at 4–1 odds), dominated the race until I’ll Have Another surged during the final stretch to win by a length and a half. At the Preakness, in a field of 11 horses, Bodemeister was once again the favourite, at 2–1 odds, and I’ll Have Another was the crowd’s second choice. As in the Derby, Bodemeister led the pack throughout much of the race, but I’ll Have Another, ridden by jockey Mario Gutierrez, again made a late surge and narrowly defeated Bodemeister.

Because of a leg injury, which was diagnosed as tendonitis, I’ll Have Another was forced to withdraw from the Belmont Stakes.