Trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Calvin Borel combined for a historic breakthrough when mud-loving Super Saver splashed to a 2½-length victory against Ice Box Saturday in the 136th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Pletcher, a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award as the leading trainer in North America, had endured the ignominy of saddling 24 horses without bringing home the roses, a record for Derby futility. Borel, meanwhile, became the first jockey to sweep the opening leg of the Triple Crown three times in a four-year span.

Other than flashing a broad smile, Pletcher was his buttoned-down, low-key self even after his greatest triumph. "Obviously, this is a race I dreamed my whole life of winning," he said. "Now that it's happened, I'm soaking it in still."

Pletcher experienced the lowest of lows and the highest of highs during Derby week. He was crushed when Eskendereya, who had romped by a combined 18¼ lengths in his two prep races and was viewed as the overwhelming favorite, had to be withdrawn with a leg injury last Sunday.

He also eliminated two more of his horses, Rule and Interactif, but was still left with four starters. He had always talked about having the right horse on the right day. Super Saver was that horse.

The son of Maria's Mon stood out for some handicappers even though he had bowed in his only two previous starts as a 3-year-old, finishing third in the Grade 3 Tampa Derby and missing by a neck in the Arkansas Derby.

But he was the right horse for the soggy day because he had rolled by seven lengths on a sloppy track last Sept. 11 at New York's Belmont Park. He had also demonstrated a liking for Churchill Downs, having won a Grade 2 event by five lengths beneath the twin spires last Nov. 28.

"I wish I could tell you what we did to make it happen," Pletcher said, "but since the Arkansas Derby the horse has gotten better and better."

Jockeys line up to ride for Pletcher's high-powered outfit. One of his best decisions was to assign Super Saver to Borel.

"I said early in the week that Calvin Borel is a great rider wherever he goes," said Pletcher. "But at Churchill Downs he's five lengths better. He's figured this track out."

Borel, 43, launched dramatic rallies from the back of the pack when he prevailed with favored Street Sense in 2007 and with 50-1 Mine That Bird last year.

While his last-to-first journey aboard Mine That Bird is widely viewed as one of the great rides in Derby history, he almost made it look easy as his lived up to his moniker — Bo-Rail — by hugging the rail and saving ground virtually throughout the 1¼-mile classic with Super Saver.

"I was born to ride, sir," said Borel, who has admitted in the past that the struggles to read. "This is what I wanted to do my whole life."

Borel added, "Everybody dreams of winning one Derby. I never dreamed I'd win three."

He said the biggest question he had as the field of 20 paraded to the starting gate involved whether his mount had enough stamina to remain strong throughout.

"To see whether he had punch going a mile-and-a-quarter, that was my only concern," he said.

Super Saver won for the third time in seven career starts with two second-place finishes and one third. He earned $1,425,200 for Kentucky-based owner and breeder WinStar Farm. He paid $18 for a $2 win wager as the second choice in the betting.

Paddy O'Prado closed for third. Favored Lookin At Lucky endured a terrible trip from the rail and did well to come home sixth for jockey Garrett Gomez.

"I got bumped two or three times. That's what I worried about going in," Gomez said. "He wasn't real willing to help me the first sixteenth of a mile and take some of it. After the first one, he wasn't willing to take too much."

It is typical of Pletcher that he delighted in securing his elusive triumph not so much for himself but for his parents. Jerrie and J.J., a former trainer, are both in their 70's.

"The win obviously is important to me," he said, "but the one thing I wanted to do was win while my parents were still here to see it."