People cheer on local horse Chitu during Kentucky Derby

There is an El Paso connection with the Kentucky derby.

A lot of people attended the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino cheering for a hometown favorite, a horse named Chitu. Chitu had won the Sunland derby back in March. That horse was trained by a legend in the horse race community Bob Baffert who also started his training career here in Sunland Park.

Now Chitu had the odds against him at 26-to-1. Unfortunately, he came in 9th place Saturday. Many fans were disappointed by officials at Sunland Park Racetrack, but said the fact that a horse that’s won the Sunland derby raced in the Kentucky derby still puts Sunland on the map.

“I think you got a lot of people here right now Chitu is going off 26-to-1, but I think you’ll see even though he is going off 26-to-1 there going to put there money on the home town favorite who won the Sunland derby so there’s a lot of hype pulling for the home horse,” said General Manager Rick Baugh.