Brad Cox’s lone career starter at FanDuel Racing finished third, but Cox has two legitimate hopes to win his first St. Louis Derby on Saturday night. Slip Mahoney was a last-start winner at Saratoga and sniffed the edges of the Triple Crown trail earlier this year, and figures to be a shorter price than Cox’s second entrant, Tabeguache. While Slip Mahoney so far has been the better horse, Tabeguache might be the better bet Saturday as an improving, lightly raced 3-year-old. The Cox pair (his second and third FanDuel runners following Gagetown’s third in the 2021 St. Louis Derby) are among seven entered in the $250,000 St. Louis Derby, a 1 1/16-mile contest scheduled for 8:50 p.m. Central. :: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets. Trainer Kenny McPeek, who won the 2022 St. Louis Derby with Rattle N Roll, also has two entrants, Denington and Hayes Strike. The Steve Asmussen-trained Billy Jack is going for the lead from post 2 in his first start beyond one mile, while Carcano, whom Billy Jack beat in July, exits a nine-furlong Ellis Park maiden win. Carcano did beat a solid Cox-trained older horse, Concerted, but got a perfect trip in so doing. Shouldabroughtdabar, likely a 30-1 shot, completes the field. The morning line has a questionable favorite in Hayes Strike, set at an improbable 5-2. Hayes Strike has been racing without a break since he began his career in July 2022. He comes out of the Indiana Derby, like Rattle N Roll last year, but where Rattle N Roll had a major excuse for his seventh-place Indiana finish, Hayes Strike ran flat from the start and was beaten nearly 20 lengths. Denington has hit a higher level than Hayes Strike and has a far better recent race, a close fourth in the $192,000 Ellis Derby – but that race was possibly too recent. Denington also has raced without a break since his debut during summer 2022, and comes back 13 days after the Ellis Derby, where he came from last to loom a midstretch threat before flattening out. Slip Mahoney probably will be favored. Based in New York through winter and early spring, Slip Mahoney finished a troubled second in the Gotham Stakes and a troubled sixth in the Wood Memorial. He got a better trip in the Long Branch on May 13 at Monmouth but came up empty in the homestretch. Slip Mahoney ran better than that in a one-mile first-level allowance July 23 at Saratoga, and while Luis Saez engineered a perfect pressing trip, Mount Up, who was second by 3 1/2 lengths, returned Aug. 20 to win an allowance race with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. Gerardo Corrales picks up the Slip Mahoney mount; Cox and Corrales have teamed to go 12 for 25 over the last year. Tabeguache makes his stakes debut and looks ready for it. By Into Mischief, Tabeguache comes from Cox’s Indiana string, and the addition of blinkers two races ago coincided with a third-start maiden victory. Tabeguache gave weight to older horses July 19 in a first-level route allowance and won by nearly two lengths, finishing like a horse who still had more to give. He’s worked two recent bullets and can get a sweet pocket trip from the rail under Manny Esquivel. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.