(Times Union photo)

Before the largest crowd in the history of the Kentucky Derby, 164,858, packed Churchill Downs to watch as Animal Kingdom swept past the leaders and came flying home to win the first leg of the Triple Crown by 2 3/4 lengths.

"Right about the quarter-pole he got really comfortable as soon as he got to the clear," Velazquez said. "He gave me that feeling that, man, he was running. He got to the lead and kept running. So very proud of the way he did everything."

"I didn't have to do very much," Velazquez said. "He was going well the whole way around, so he gave me a lot of confidence to be where I was and when I asked him to do something he was there for me. A good horse gets you out of trouble."

Animal Kingdom is by Global Leading Third-Crop Sire and Top Four North American Sire Leroidesanimaux (BRZ)