For all ya’ll familiar with the X-Men comicbooks, NO, this is not the same guy.

The Pyro we’re talking about here is the horse that was proclaimed by his owners as a legitimate contender for the 2008 Kentucky Derby. After the horse’s performance over the weekend, nobody’s telling them otherwise… YET.

After all, Pyro did won the Grade 3, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes by two lengths after passing all 10 of his rivals in a quarter-mile last Saturday. And to think Pyro was last at the top of the Fair Grounds stretch, trailing a very very slow pace.

Pyro, a Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred by Pulpit, keyed a Steve Asmussen-trained exacta, with second-choice Z Fortune three-quarters of a length better than Visionaire, who had a perfect trip. Unbridled Vicar was fourth, and Blackberry Road was a tough-trip fifth.

At the quarter pole, it definitely looked like Pyro won’t be winning his 2008 debut.

Pyro had too much to do and the leaders would have too much energy left after dawdling splits of 49.50 seconds for the half-mile and 1:14.62 for three-quarters.

But then, nobody probably expected the horse to make a dramatic comeback.

As soon as Pyro straightened onto his right lead and leveled off for the stretch run, jockey Shaun Bridgmohan gave him his cue. He passed the lagging trailers in a matter of strides, and at the three-sixteenths pole, Bridgmohan made a sharp right turn, taking him off the fence and narrowly cutting in behind Unbridled Vicar.

Pyro was in the clear, and then he really started to run. He went past the mid-pack horses and took aim on his stablemate Z Fortune, who had seized the lead turning for home. Pryo mowed him down, too, and a couple strides before the wire, Bridgmohan went not to the whip, but to his bare hand, giving Pyro a couple congratulatory pats.

‘’Unbelievable,'’ jockey Shaun Bridghmohan said, watching the replay of the stretch run afterward. ‘’I never even hit him.'’

Of course, the 2008 Triple Crown series is a different story and we shall see how Pyro does when the Triple Crown kicks off with the Kentucky Derby.

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Pyro 2008 Kentucky Derby