Bodexpress was a long shot to win the 2019 Preakness Stakes entering Saturday's big race, but no one could have predicted just how he would, in fact, live up to his long odds at Pimlico Race Course.

Improbable may have dug himself a hole at the starting gate with some bucking right before the race began, but Bodexpress thoroughly outdid the Preakness favorite, bursting out of the gate so wildly that he knocked longtime jockey John Velazquez right off his back.

The craziness didn't end there.

After losing his jockey, Bodexpress proceeded to run, run and run some more -- all the way to the Preakness Stakes finish line -- without a jockey.

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And he still beat 2 other horses! #Preakness

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Credit Bodexpress for sticking it out solo and steering clear of the other horses for the duration of the race. Things obviously could've gone a whole lot worse had the horse decided to take a different perspective on his freedom.

For what it's worth, Velazquez shouldered the blame for Bodexpress's poor start, saying after the race that the horse was jumpy in the gate and that he couldn't settle him down. He may have inadvertently sparked an entirely new horse-racing fan base, too -- those pulling for horses without jockeys.