Dallas Stewart almost got away with it again in this year's Kentucky Derby.
When the public least expects it, the trainer sneaks up on a Triple Crown race with a horse sporting wispy credentials and few, if any, Kentucky Derby qualifying points that justifiably leaves the starting gate at astronomical odds. More often than logic dictates, that longshot gets up for a spot on the tote board that causes an army of punters to turn their tickets into confetti.
He did it in the 2013 Kentucky Derby when Golden Soul snuck up for second behind Orb at 50-1 odds. A year later, he did it again in the same race with Commanding Curve, who finished second behind California Chrome at 37-1. In 2015, Tale of Verve was the bridesmaid to eventual Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Preakness Stakes as the second-longest price on the board. Before the colts, Stewart achieved arguably the biggest upset win of his career in the 2006 Kentucky Oaks when Lemons Forever shocked the world at 47-1.
After a run like that, whenever Stewart has sent a horse postward in a Triple Crown race that no one has heard of outside of his barn, that runner commanded bettors' attention, even if they didn't get the job done.
Stewart tried that play again in the Derby with Corona de Oro, a son of Bolt d'Oro who broke his maiden in March and earned a whopping six qualifying points for finishing third in the G3 Lexington Stakes. He was a last-minute addition to the Kentucky Derby field when it became clear there could be a spot for him as the fourth also-eligible, and he came within one scratch of making it into the gate.
With the benefit of hindsight, did Stewart think this longshot could have joined his list of Derby Cinderellas if he'd have made the gate at Churchill Downs?
"I don't know," he admitted. "That was a crazy scenario, that speed, I just don't know. He'd have been way on the outside. A lot of crazy things happened going into that first turn. The pace was too wicked. I don't think it would have turned out great.
"I feel better about the way it played itself out," he continued. "We tried, it didn't work out, but it looks like it's maybe okay for us."
Corona de Oro won't sneak up on bettors or the competition in the Preakness Stakes the way he would have in the Derby, but the colt will still be far from a favorite on Saturday at Laurel Park. Even with a mild detour, Stewart said the plan for the horse is still coming together as he'd hoped.
"When (the Derby) was over, it was like, 'Okay, we know where we're going next if we train well,' and he did," the trainer said. "There was some thought maybe we'd wait until the Matt Winn (on June 7 at Churchill Downs), but that's a long stretch. He just looked like he's on top of his game now, so when you get close to that summit, you've gotta go for it.
"You can't say, 'Well, I'm gonna wait five more weeks," he continued. "Your horse might not get that peak again. He might not look this good. We try not to overmatch him, but we'll see."
So, what's the secret to getting unheralded 3-year-old colts to find another level in the sport's biggest races when, on paper, they appear completely overmatched?
The biggest factors for him are timing and confidence, a lesson imparted to him by his former boss, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
"With these types of races, you know when the races are, so you see how your horse is doing when you're going through the maiden ranks and through the allowance ranks and stuff like that, and those races are pretty well set too," he said. "You kind of train to them, and sometimes you've gotta drop down to a claiming event and get some confidence in your horse, and then hopefully pick them back up.
"Look at Lukas," Stewart continued. "He had that one horse, Charismatic (the 1999 Kentucky Derby winner), he was in the claiming races, so that could have been a disaster, but then the horse got good."
As for how horses display that confidence, Stewart said it can present itself both physically and mentally, and it reflects on him and his staff.
"Horses are unbelievable," he said, standing outside his Preakness hopeful's stall. "Most horses, you get a feel for what's going on and how they're training. As they show confidence, we have more confidence about training them, and it's just something that they send off to us as horsemen.
"I'm watching him walk around here, and I'm watching the other horses, and I'm feeling good about the way he's presenting himself amongst the other horses," the trainer continued. "I like the way his weight is, I like the way his energy is on the track, I like the way he's eating right now. So, this is all a confidence builder right there. That's the A-1 confidence-builder, that he's already trained, he's been checked out by the vets, and he went straight to eating. He's like, 'Okay, round two and round three are over. When are we going to dinner?'"
Looking ahead to Corona de Oro's Preakness tilt, he reflected back on Lemons Forever, his upset pièce de résistance, who closed from last to win the Oaks as the longest shot on the board.
The others on his list – horses like Commanding Curve and Tale of Verve – he thought had a legitimate chance to make some noise, even if no one else did. For Lemons Forever, it took some convincing.
"She ran third in the Bourbonette, and she ran pretty good that day," he said. "We passed the Ashland, and (jockey) Mark Guidry came and worked her, and he said, 'Dallas, I've never had a horse work any better than this.' I said, 'Really? He says, 'I'm telling you, she could be right there.'"
Stewart didn't need that kind of pep talk for Corona de Oro. All he had to do was look at him.
"He looks fantastic," the trainer said. "He's holding his weight good and he's training over the track good. He shipped in good. Those are the things where you don't pay attention to the odds, just go run. It's a horse race, right?"
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
