Jeff Haynes, AFP, Getty Images Giacomo, left, with Mike Smith aboard, holds off Closing Argument at the finish. Click photo for larger image. Kentucky Derby Notebook: All five of Zito's horses strike out in Derby nightmare 50-1 -- Post odds for Giacomo, which produced the second-largest winning $2 ticket in Derby history $102.60 -- What a $2 bet on Giacomo to win paid yesterday 1/2 -- Lengths by which Giacomo won 2:02.75 -- Winning time $1,639,600 -- Winner's share of the $2.4 millon Derby purse 10 -- Post position for Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo

LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- A $102.60 win payoff, second-highest in history behind Donerail at $184.90 in 1913.

This was a Kentucky Derby outcome nobody predicted, and only the horse's human connections and long-shot players wagered 50-1 Giacomo the winner.

Closing Argument, a 71-1 shot, was second, a half-length back, creating a $9,814 exacta.

The only one of the favorites who ran close to his expectation was 9-2 second choice Afleet Alex, who was third, another half-length back. The 5-2 favorite Bellamy Road was seventh and nearly 7-1 third choice Bandini was next-to-last in the maximum field of 20.

"He was waiting to give us his best race today," joked Giacomo's owner, Jerry Moss, of A&M Records fame.

The 131st Derby, worth a record $2,399,600, was Giacomo's first victory in four starts this year and his second lifetime win in eight starts. The previous Derby winner to come into the race with one lifetime win was Alysheba in 1987.

"We knew we had a good horse," Moss said. "He had troubles racing in California."

But, said jockey Mike Smith, who won his first Derby in 12 tries, "Every race was a little step forward, a little step forward." He came into the Derby off a close fourth in the Santa Anita Derby.

"John Shirreffs [who won in his first try] is just an amazing trainer," Smith added.

For Smith, the victory marked redemption for both himself and Holy Bull, Giacomo's sire. Holy Bull was 12th as the favorite in the 1994 Kentucky Derby.

"Even before I got on [Giacomo in a race], I said he was going to redeem his father's name," Smith said.

"I'm so numb I can't tell you how I feel. ... [But] I know what it's like to hurt, too."

Gail Kamenish, Associated Press Owners Ann and Jerry Moss acknowledge the congratulations of the crowd after Giacomo's win. Click photo for larger image.

Smith's back was broken in a frightening spill at Saratoga in August 1998 and he was in a body cast for some time. But he came back for the winter meet at the 1999 Gulfstream Park meeting -- a move, Smith said yesterday, that was premature and unwise. He said he needed a couple years to get back all his strength, and he has had his ups and downs in the years since.

Smith said his victory came exactly the way he and Shirreffs strategized it beforehand: He would sit way back at the start and let the speedsters tire themselves out on the front before making a late charge for the lead.

That's exactly how it went, except for the bumping Giacomo and Smith were involved in as Spanish Chestnut, pressed by Going Wild, set a blistering early pace. Spanish Chestnut clocked quarter-mile fractions of 22.28 seconds, 45.38 and 1 minute, 35.88 seconds to start the 1¹/₄-mile stake, spreading out the field.

Giacomo and Smith, meanwhile, got carried out early, had to jump another horse's heels, got carried out again in between ground-saving trips back inside as they sat 18th. After the first three-quarters, they moved up to 11th at the quarter mile and then moved up to sixth at the head of the stretch.

At that point, Closing Argument was in the lead with Afleet Alex a half-length back. Bellamy Road was third, and High Fly, briefly in the lead, was fourth.

"He just kept grinding and grinding until he got him," Smith said of his move on Closing Argument. "It was so cool.

"It's an incredible feeling when I stood up past the wire. My legs buckled."

Shirreffs couldn't see much from his vantage point, but what he saw thrilled him.

"I saw him at the ³/₁₆th [pole] gobbling up ground and said, 'he's got a chance to hit the board,' and then I said, 'he might win it!' "

Long shots dominated the first flight across the finish line: 29-1 Don't Get Mad was fourth, 46-1 Buzzards Bay, fifth; and 21-1 Wilko sixth. After Bellamy Road in seventh came 57-1 Andromeda's Hero.

"My horse did run good," jockey Cornelio Velasquez said of Closing Argument. "I think my horse tried very hard. He's a very good horse. He was in perfect condition today. He ran a big race."

Jeremy Rose was similarly proud of Afleet Alex.

"He tried his butt off, he really did. I was screaming and hollering for him. You can feel when a horse is giving everything he had. He just had nothing left. I think that is the first time that I have seen a horse outside me that I could not get by.

"He had the opportunity and he gave it his best, and you can't ask for a whole lot more from a horse."