Kentucky Derby upset winner Mine That Bird has returned to Churchill Downs, the sight of his greatest victory, to help usher in the Kentucky Derby Museum’s new Long Shots exhibit, which opens to the public March 28.

It was 15 years ago that the little bay Birdstone gelding squeezed through the smallest of openings along the rail under Calvin Borel to capture the lead inside the three-sixteenths pole before running away to an emphatic 6 ¾-length romp in the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, shocking the world at odds of 50.60-1.

“We’re very pleased to have Mine That Bird,” said Kentucky Derby Museum president and CEO Patrick Armstrong. “We preserve the history of the Kentucky Derby. We take that very seriously. To be able to honor Mine That Bird’s win by having him here at the Kentucky Derby Museum is important to us and important to our fans. We’re very much looking forward to the three-week stay that we’ll have ‘Bird’ with us.”

Armstrong said Mine That Bird’s 15^th anniversary gave the Museum the perfect opportunity to create a long-discussed Long Shots exhibit. The exhibit will debut at the Museum’s Legends Series with Maker’s Mark the evening of March 27.

The exhibit features artifacts from the five biggest longshots to ever win the Derby – Donerail (1913, 91.45-1), Rich Strike (2022, 80.80-1), Country House (2019, 65.20-1), Mine That Bird, and Giacomo (2005, 50.30-1). The artifacts include silks worn by Donerail’s jockey, Roscoe Goose, in the Derby.

Sean Collins/BloodHorse photo

Mine That Bird arrived at Churchill Downs March 24 and has taken up residence in the Museum’s Helen B. “Penny” Chenery Stable. Museum patrons can visit the Derby winner from March 27 through April 19.

“If you ask me what I remember about Churchill, it was the fans,” said Mark Allen, who raced Mine That Bird with Dr. Leonard Blach as Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine. “It’s a good story for racing.”

They acquired Mine That Bird late in his 2-year-old season. He won the Kentucky Derby for trainer Chip Woolley and concluded his career under the care of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Retiring following a 10^th-place finish in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs, Mine That Bird went to live on Allen’s Double Eagle Ranch in New Mexico.

“He’s been getting fat and old like me,” Allen said of the now 18-year-old’s recent activity.

Mine That Bird has, on occasion, made public appearances for parades and other events in New Mexico. “Every now and then he gets up and prances around,” Allen said.

Allen also brought Mine That Bird to temporarily reside at the Kentucky Derby Museum in 2013.

Allen sold Double Eagle Ranch in 2020. His Derby winner then spent time at HV Ranch near Lone Oak, Texas, and most recently near Ponca City, Okla.

“I’ve met a lot of people I wouldn’t have met,” Allen said of the journey he’s been on with Mine That Bird. “He definitely changed my life.”–Sean Collins