Root for Patch, the Kentucky Derby's One-Eyed Horse

But don't necessarily bet on him
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted May 5, 2017 4:24 PM CDT
One-Eyed Horse Sets Sights on Historic Kentucky Derby Win
Kentucky Derby entrant Patch, who has one eye, plays with the lead line as he gets a bath outside Barn 40 after his morning gallop at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, May 4, 2017.   (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Don't know who to root for in Saturday's Kentucky Derby? Meet Patch, the one-eyed horse and the race's "lovable underdog." ABC News reports Patch—the fourth one-eyed horse to run the Kentucky Derby—is becoming a fan favorite. ESPN's Jeannine Edwards says Patch, who lost his eye to inflammation last year, "basically can only see half his world," but "he doesn't let that disability keep him on the sidelines."

Patch has his work cut out for him Saturday. The Kentucky Herald-Leader reports he's currently sitting at 30-1 odds, having run only three races in his career. Only two horses with that few races have won the Kentucky Derby in the past 117 years. No one-eyed horse has ever won the Derby. "It's impossible to root against a one-eyed horse ... that doesn't mean you have to bet [on] him," the Herald-Leader states. But Patch may have already made history as possibly the first one-eyed horse with his own Twitter account. (More Kentucky Derby stories.)

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