Real quiet captured the 124th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday night, giving trainer Bob Baffert his second straight Derby win and jockey Kent Desormeaux his first.

The California-bred colt, nicknamed `the Fish' because, Baffert says, he looks better from the side than head-on, won for the third time in 13 career starts.

His last win was in the Hollywood Futurity as a two-year-old in December. He was coming off second-place finishes in the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby.

Real Quiet covered the 10 furlongs in two minutes 2.2 seconds. Victory Gallop, ridden by Alex Solis, was second and Baffert-trained Indian Charlie, the prerace favourite, with Gary Stevens aboard, was third.

The pace was set by Old Trieste and Rock and Roll with Real Quiet making his way quietly round the inside. As the field turned for home, Desormeaux guided his mount to the outside where he flew by stablemate Indian Charlie and set his sights on the tiring leader Old Trieste.

The three-year-old pounced in the straight, grabbing the lead inside the last and survived a furious challenge from Victory Gallop, to win by a half length.

Desormeaux's previous best finish in the first jewel of US Flat racing's Triple Crown was third aboard Pleasant Tap in 1990.

The victory made Baffert the sixth trainer in Derby history to train back-to-back winners and second this decade. D Wayke Lukas did it in 1995 with Thunder Gulch and in 1996 with Grindstone.

Baffert saddled last year's winner Silver Charm, who he trained to the four million-dollar Dubai Cup earlier this year.

"I asked him to move forward and he really started reaching for the wire," Desormeaux said. "I was just hoping that nobody caught him." The jockey's best previous finish in the first jewel of the Triple Crown was third aboard Pleasant Tap in 1990.