LOUISVILLE, Ky — Trainer Bob Baffert is turning every thoroughbred owner’s dream into a routine.

For the third time in six years, a Baffert-trained colt has won horse racing’s showcase event, the Kentucky Derby, as War Emblem held off 17 other horses to capture the roses.

As a 20-1 longshot, War Emblem became the first wire-to-wire winner of the Derby in 14 years. Winning Colors last pulled the feat in 1988.

War Emblem benefited from a very slow pace. In the last couple of years, the early leader in the Derby has not been able to hold on when the horses turned for home and have been run down by horses with late, closing speed. That wasn’t the case this year, as War Emblem only had to outrun Proud Citizen right out of the gate for the early lead.

In the homestretch, instead of the usual rush of late closing horses, War Emblem simply pulled away from the rest of the field, defeating runner-up Proud Citizen by four lengths.

War Emblem was at the center of a bit of controversy during the week leading up to the race. Arab Prince Ahmed, the head of the Thoroughbred Corp., purchased the colt less than a month ago, after War Emblem captured the Illinois Derby to give he and Baffert a Derby contender.

Some racing fans felt Prince Ahmed was simply trying to buy the race, criticism that the prince responded to by stating that every horse in the Derby is bought by its owner.

Regardless of the ethics involved, the Thoroughbred Corp. finally added a Kentucky Derby to its very successful operation. Last year they captured the other two legs of the Triple Crown, the Preakness and the Belmont, with Point Given.

War Emblem was almost denied the chance to even run in the race. Despite his six-and-a-half length victory in the Illinois Derby, then-owner Russell Reineman planned on bypassing the Derby and instead focusing on getting War Emblem ready for the Preakness.

But that all changed after the Thoroughbred Corp. paid Reineman and trainer Kenny McPeek over $900,000 for the colt and transferred him to Baffert’s barn.

Reineman didn’t lose out completely; he retained a 10 percent stake in the colt, who collected $875,000 for the win in addition to a $1 million bonus for winning both the Kentucky Derby and the Illinois Derby.

The victory was just another laurel in Baffert’s storied Triple Crown career. After his horse Cavonnier lost the 1996 Kentucky Derby by a nose to Grindstone, Baffert has been the dominating force in the Triple Crown. In addition to his three Kentucky Derby wins, Baffert has also won the Preakness three times and the Belmont once.

War Emblem will give Baffert a chance to extend those numbers when the Preakness is run on May 18.

In attendance were 145,033 fans to witness War Emblem’s triumph, the fifth largest crowd in Derby history, but smaller than the last couple of years. Fans this season were subjected to much more stern security measures as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In the past, many fans, especially those in the infield, would bring in coolers full of food and drinks. But coolers were banned this year, and fans were greeted by military personnel and policemen doing searches upon entering Churchill Downs.