It’s not often in a major horse race that the winning horse isn’t the talk of the day, but that just so happened to be the situation on Saturday at the Preakness Stakes.

Bodexpress, running in the 9th position, bucked its Hall of Fame jockey, John Velazquez, off in the starting gate — and kept running the race.

With Kentucky Derby winner Country House not participating in the Preakness, it gave an even greater platform for folks to witness just exactly what Bodexpress was going to do with its newfound freedom.

Not only did Bodexpress end up finishing the race — officially it was disqualified — but the horse didn’t even cross the finish line last.

Social media quickly became ablaze with praise and awe for Bodexpress, which has a more likely chance of becoming a household name than the actual Preakness winner, War of Will.

Bodexpress tried to win Preakness without a jockey 😂 pic.twitter.com/lBRbxCORdW

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 18, 2019

Bodexpress tossed his jockey right out of the gate at Preakness. Jockey is ok. Horse kept running pic.twitter.com/n9VdWrmbim

— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) May 18, 2019

It’s bad when a horse with no jockey beats you pic.twitter.com/FUkfbQ2YbF

— Jeff McAdam (@JeffMcAdamTV) May 18, 2019

I have no idea which horse won the #Preakness.
I just watched the jockey-less horse the entire race.

— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) May 18, 2019

Bodexpress:

• lost his jockey at the start of the race
• kept racing even after the race
• is our Preakness MVP pic.twitter.com/k9OIIpiorh

— SB Nation (@SBNation) May 18, 2019

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