DALLAS (KRLD) - If you're looking for a horse to root for in this weekend's Kentucky Derby .... why not cheer on a local thoroughbred?
Dallas resident, Tom Reynolds, decided to invest Eclipse Thoroughbreds Partners when he retired, which entitled him to a share of several finely tuned thoroughbreds.
He never would have imagined that one of those horses would qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
"I thought we'd have some nice horses that would compete at a high level but never dreamed I'd have a derby horse," Reynolds told KRLD.
After three successful runs, one three-year-old Colt named Gray Magician stood out. The next thing Reynolds knew ... he was on a trip to Dubai to enter the thoroughbred into a race with a purse of $2.5 million.
"We finished second by about three-quarters of a length and had a nice payday. But most importantly we got enough points to be able to qualify for the Derby field," Reynolds said.
Reynolds says he and his entire family will be at Churchill Downs in Louisville for the 145th running of the Derby.
Grey Magician opened up as a 50-1 longshot, but for Reynolds, that's fine with him.
"We'd love to finish in the top-3. We're not going there to win tenth (place) or something. We're going there to really have an impact on the race."
