This handicapper’s Oaks-Derby double strategy will insist on an upset in either the Oaks or Derby, preferably both. If program favorites Rachel’s Valentine and Nyquist both win, it will be a losing wager.
There are four pick fours, not to mention two pick fives, on Friday’s Kentucky Oaks card at Churchill Downs. But the pick four I’m focusing on here is the late all-stakes one that concludes with the Oaks and begins in race 8.
Let’s look at a few contenders for this Derby and see how they stack up in terms of similar Derby runners since 1991. Caveat emptor: These stats are mostly intended to be fun, playful, silly, or just interesting discussion starters, so use them at your own risk when upgrading or downgrading who you’re likely to bet Saturday.
Although there are a vast number of considerations in handicapping the Kentucky Derby, one key element is determining which horses are the fastest. So let’s take a look at the probable Derby competitors by their Beyer Speed Figures, and the figure patterns they exhibit coming into the race.
Mike Beer's horses to watch at Belmont Park for the week of May 2.
Who wants to go 1 1/4 miles? Handicappers obsess over that question, sometimes to their detriment, every first Saturday in May.
Trip Notes by Michael Hammersly for the Miami Mile and San Francisco Mile.
Brad Free's horses to watch at Los Alamitos for the week of May 2.
Gierkink: Woodbine horses to watch for week of May 2
The track was listed as muddy for Sunday’s Kentucky Derby/Oaks session, which began at 8:30 a.m., and aside for Lani, it was a quiet morning as expected, with most of the field either walking the shed or merely jogging to stretch their legs.
