Every longshot has his or her own story. Some overcome adversity or a run of bad luck, others defy logic, and sometimes a change in circumstance provides the key to unlocking an upset. Such was the case in the 2020 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Sole Volante was a viable favorite coming off a 2 ½-length win at the same track and 1 1/16-mile distance, and the Tampa Bay Downs Derby prep drew a deep field of 12 3-year-olds, but there is no way King Guillermo should have been 49.20-1 odds.

The colt by Uncle Mo lost his debut sprinting on dirt but followed with a pair of fast races on the grass (both triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures) that included a third-place finish in the one-mile Pulpit Stakes on the Gulfstream Park turf the previous fall where he was favored over winner Sole Volante. Double-digit odds in the Tampa Bay Derby? Sure, he was 15-1 on the morning line … but almost 50-1?!

The eye-catching price looked like an absolute gift from the racing gods in the Tampa Bay Derby stretch as King Guillermo opened a three-length advantage and finished with a final sixteenth of a mile in 6.23 seconds to cement a 4 ¾-length win over Sole Volante for retired Major League Baseball player Victor Martinez’s Victoria’s Ranch.

“There is nothing that comes close to this,” Martinez, who played 16 years in the big leagues after coming to the United States from his native Venezuela, told BloodHorse. “What you saw today is all family. I thank God for this opportunity and for putting a great horse in my hands.

"My dad died when I was 6, and I always wanted to have a horse named for my dad.”

Martinez enjoying the Tampa Bay Derby victory. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Although the betting public overlooked King Guillermo, resulting in a $100.40 payout on a $2 win bet, Martinez and trainer Juan Carlos Avila believed in him.

“He didn't do well at 5 ½ furlongs in his first start so we decided to put him on turf. But we still believed in him, and his dirt workouts were really amazing,” Martinez explained. “We had nothing to lose, so we decided to give him one more shot on dirt and see what happens.”

King Guillermo joined the Kentucky Derby trail and followed with a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. Unfortunately, he spiked a fever the Thursday before the 2020 Kentucky Derby, rescheduled for September because of the pandemic, and missed the race.

King Guillermo did not win again after the Tampa Bay Derby and in the summer of 2022 he entered stud at Haras La Providencia in Argentina, but on a March day nearly six years ago in Tampa, Fla., the bay colt flashed his best in the stretch and made dreams come true for his grateful owner.

“My mom taught me dreams are for free. I came to this country to have a career, and when I retired, I still felt like I could play,” Martinez told BloodHorse. “I was sleeping for 16 years in the big leagues. Once I woke up, I found King Guillermo.”