The biggest upset in the 111-year history of the Louisiana Derby was every bit a longshot.

Hero of Order entered the 2012 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds with 13 races and only one victory on his résumé for a little-known trainer from Russia, former jockey Gennadi Dorochenko, who had never won a graded stakes.

A dark bay or brown colt by Sharp Humor, Hero of Order’s lone win entering the $1 million Louisiana Derby had come in a three-quarter-mile maiden special weight race Jan. 7 at Fair Grounds, where he had raced eight times earlier in that meet at the New Orleans track. Dorochenko had purchased him for $3,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Dorochenko at 2012 Louisiana Derby (Eclipse Sportswire)

There were glimmers of hope with this story’s hero: he led briefly in the Lecomte Stakes before fading to fifth, lost an allowance race sprinting by less than a length, set the pace before fading to fourth in the Risen Star Stakes, and finished second in the Black Gold Stakes sprinting on grass only to be disqualified and placed fourth. Hero of Order had been somewhat competitive for an unconventional trainer who eschewed workouts in favor of races.

“The don’t pay the workouts. What do you get for a workout?” Dorochenko asked in a post-Louisiana Derby interview in BloodHorse. “Because all my life I am a jockey and spend with horses. You can make a bicycle into a Ferrari. I show what I know.”

The 2012 Louisiana Derby drew a field of 14 reduced to 13 at post time. Hero of Order started as the longest shot in the field at 109.40-1 odds – the next closest was 68.10-1 outsider Flashy Sunrise – so it came as a major surprise when Dorochenko’s charge morphed into a finely tuned Italian racecar.

Hero of Order raced a few lengths behind pacesetter and fellow longshot Comisky’s Humor along the backstretch, took command on the far turn, and opened a clear lead in early stretch. Mark Valeski, part of a favored entry, rallied late but could get no closer than a half-length as jockey Eddie Martin Jr. guided home the most shocking upset in Louisiana Derby history.

The Pick 3 ending with the Louisiana Derby paid $105,930 to one winner and the 50-cent Pick 4 paid $203,358 to a single winning ticket as Hero of Order retuned $220.80 for a $2 win bet.

“To win a race like a million dollars, it changes your life,” Dorochenko told BloodHorse. “I don’t buy expensive horses. I buy cheap horses and make them expensive.”

2012 Louisiana Derby winner's circle. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Hero of Order was not nominated to the 2012 Kentucky Derby but he did make another start on the Triple Crown trail in the Blue Grass Stakes, finishing last of 13. He lost all 10 of his starts after the Louisiana Derby with his best effort a runner-up finish that June in the Iowa Derby.

Dorochenko’s Raut Farm stood Hero of Order as a stallion and he sired 23 winners from 41 starters, including multiple stakes-placed winner Sharp Hero, but Hero of Order’s legacy, of course, will be engineering the greatest upset in the history of the Louisiana Derby. Not all heroes wear capes — some are bicycles who transform into Ferraris at Fair Grounds.