LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the recently completed $121 million renovations at Churchill Downs is the wonderful, mammoth mural painted by famed turf cartoonist Peb. It documents the first 130 victorious Derby jockeys, each one depicted in his winning silks. It’s an attempt to keep history present at the relentlessly renovated Churchill Downs, and also, as Peb joked last Friday, “a very good job.”

So add one more jock to the painting, Peb.

Mike Smith has gone to the Derby gate 11 times and had not, until Saturday, gotten under the wire in front. Three times in four years, Smith was up on the favorite on Derby day, and each of those trips ended in disappointment. But no heartbreak was as acute as the 1994 Derby, when soon-to-be Horse of the Year Holy Bull failed to fire.

“I know what it’s like to hurt,” Smith told reporters after Saturday’s race. “Now I’m just glad I got to win one.”

Running in the 131st Kentucky Derby, Smith took the grey son of Holy Bull, named Giacomo, to the gate at 50-1. My words about Giacomo last week were: “This horse doesn’t win races – he’s notched one victory in seven career starts – and he’s not going to start on Saturday.” So much for that.

We should have had a clue that things weren’t right when Jerry Bailey pushed Madcap Escapade through blazing splits in the Kentucky Oaks, running her like she was being chased while she had miles of daylight open on the field; the horse crumbled on the stretch and came in fifth while long shots traipsed home in front.

The Derby that followed was among the weirdest horse races I’ve ever seen. At 6 furlongs – the fastest 6 furlongs ever run in the Kentucky Derby – the race made a little bit of sense. Two of the favorites, Bellamy Road (5-2) and High Fly (8-1) were up on the pace, behind projected rabbit Spanish Chestnut, who was burning up the fractions.

Soon after that, horses started falling apart. Bellamy faded to seventh; second-favorite Afleet Alex couldn’t quite close the gap; third-favorite Bandini ended up in 19th. Smith, meanwhile, pushed Giacomo through a small seam to get to the outside and into position for the final kick. It’s wonderful, in a way, proof that anything can happen in horseracing. You have to love a $9,814.80 exacta (never mind a $1,728,507 payout on the $2 superfecta). Those numbers are proof that the rules don’t matter in horseracing.

During the race, David Grening of the Daily Racing Form was shadowing Nick Zito, whose five much-touted entries finished seventh, eighth, 10th, 14th, and 15th.

“That’s the business, that’s the game,” Zito told Grening immediately after the race. “That’s the way it is. I’m still grateful for having this opportunity, but what could you say? That’s what makes the game great – [a] 50-1 [shot] wins it. That’s the way it goes. This is still a great game.”

Over the next week we’ll hear a lot of excuses. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a number of these horses come up with bruised feet or quarter cracks. Certainly, the Preakness field in two weeks will be thinner than the Derby, where 20 horses went to the gate.

The quick horses will probably run despite the grueling schedule, but closers like Andromeda’s Hero and Noble Causeway will likely wait for the nice wide turns and the distance at Belmont. Others should run at Pimlico, because some of them really have something to prove. Bandini in 19th? High Limit last? Come on. Put them back in the gate.

As for Giacomo, he might just pull it off again if Smith rides like he did Saturday. But it won’t be because of a cavalry charge of traffic on the turns, or a suicide pace out front, or what appears to have been quicksand on the inside of the track at Churchill Downs.

Certainly, Giacomo’s Derby race was a good one. He demonstrated an ability to remain standing after everyone else had fallen down, which is no small feat. Smith’s ride, during which he found the hair’s breadth of space and showed the guts and skill to get through it, was also laudable. Can he return in two weeks and do it again? One hates to predict anything on the tail end of a $9,814.80 exacta, but it would surprise me if we headed to Belmont with our Triple Crown hopes hanging on Giacomo.

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Churchill Downs is shiny and new. The carpets are plush and the surfaces glimmer. Looming buildings for the well-heeled dwarf the famous twin spires. The famous millionaire’s row has been expanded and suites are now stacked to the sky. Yearly leases on those (some of which run up to $225,000), and daily rentals of the new, swank rooms are expected to bring in $8.5 million a year.

It is a different Derby up there among the swells. It is calm and comfortable, bustling with attractive people in ostentatious clothes. Celebrities strut their stuff – Chris Tucker was in an all-white suit and matching white bowler hat, rolling around the hallways accepting glasses of champagne from admirers who wanted photos. Kid Rock, Usher, Dennis Franz and other stardust contributed to the glamour. Michael Jordan was sequestered behind a guarded door to a private room.

Not all the improvements were not targeted at the big bankrolls upstairs, though. Churchill threw a bone to the hoi polloi, building a huge new simulcasting room, restaurants, a ballroom, and a food court. Most of the crowd seemed to do what they always do – wear their hats, crowd the paddock, and get bombed. (One of the kicks of Derby day, if you can get access to everything, is to eavesdrop on mirror image conversations: Folks in the infield look at the towering boxes full of rich folk and say,”Look at all those people up there!” Rich folk peer out on the roiling infield and exclaim, “Look at all those people!”)

Between all the gambling and the juleps and the catcalling and the cigars and the hats there is a little bit of horseracing. And Saturday, the horseracing was enough to leave your head spinning.