Not many people can say they are a partial owner of a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby, but one of them is from Montgomery County, Maryland.
Elliot Levine is a micro-owner of Authentic, who surprisingly won the 146th Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Levine, who lives in Silver Spring, paid $206 for a part of a 1/100,000 share in ownership of the horse, along with about 5,000 other people.
“I get to participate and be a part of the excitement,” Levine said. “Basically, I can say I am part-owner of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, and that was a great feeling.”
Authentic, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by John R. Velazquez, won Saturday’s race, holding off heavy favorite Tiz the Law, who won the Belmont Stakes in August.
Despite Authentic being an 8-1 underdog, Levine was confident his horse would win.
“I knew it was a winning horse,” Levine said. “I had faith in it, despite all the interviews from people on the TV saying they want Tiz the Law to win.”
Even though he was not in the winner’s circle to celebrate, Levine said he hoped the small investment will pay off down the line.
Levine said he is not sure how much money he will actually see from the win, but he will get a cut of the stud fees when that day comes for Authentic. Until then, he’s still a partial owner.
When asked if Authentic would participate in the Preakness Stakes in the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Oct. 3, Levine said if he is selected, he would try his best to go to the race.
But the Maryland Jockey Club and Stronach Group that owns and manages Pimlico announced on Wednesday that fans wouldn’t be allowed in.
The Preakness Stakes will be run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore Oct. 3 without fans, making it a spectator-free sweep of the three Triple Crown races this year because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
However, Levine said he knows winning the Kentucky Derby is “the best feeling in the world.”
“How many people can say they own a Kentucky Derby horse winner?”
WTOP’s J Brooks and José Umaña contributed to this report.
