Total commingled wagering on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville fell 3.0 percent compared to record betting on the race last year, according to charts of the races. Total betting on the race, including all linked wagers ending in the Derby, was $215.97 million, down $6.6 million from the record total of $222.60 million last year, according to the charts. It was the first time in the last five years that wagering fell on the race. For the entire 14-race card, total commingled betting was $331.1 million, down 1.8 percent compared to last year’s record commingled handle of $337.1 million. Those totals do not include separate pool handle in locations like Japan, where interest has grown in the Derby due to regular participation of horses from that country. Two horses from Japan ran in Saturday’s Derby. Until declining on Saturday, the full-card handle for Derby Day had set a record in each of the last four years. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. A total of 150 horses raced on the Derby card this year, compared to 155 last year.   This year’s Derby had 18 horses after one horse, the longshot Great White, was scratched by regulatory veterinarians after throwing his rider and flipping behind the starting gate, requiring a refund of all wagers that included that horse. The remaining horses were swiftly unloaded from the gate, reloaded, and sent on their way. Wagering on the Derby fell in all non-linked pools with the exception of the superfecta, which was up 4.34 percent. The win, place, and show pool fell 6.8 percent to $114.21 million; the exacta pool was down marginally to $29.98 million; and the trifecta pool fell 4.2 percent to $34.09 million. This year’s Derby was a wide-open race, with no horse going off at less than 5-1 and six horses going off between 5-1 and 9-1. That generally makes for high totals in the pools, but this year’s Derby also lacked star power, without any horse making a singular impression on the public in the leadup to the race. The Derby was won by Golden Tempo at 23.12-to-1. The second choice, Renegade, finished second, followed by the longshot Ocelli, a maiden. Churchill introduced a number of new wagers for the Derby and for the Derby card, including a jackpot progressive bet requiring the selection of the first eight horses in order, with the bet paying out the whole pool only in the event of a single winning ticket. The bet, which had a $273,214 carryover going into the Derby, had handle of $955,859 on the race. No one had a winning ticket. The pick six ending in the Derby, which had a mandatory payout and a $110,100 carryover, had handle of $2.88 million, up 43.5 percent over last year.   Bets that required players to select either the odd-numbered horses or even-numbered horses drew less than $10,000 in each race prior to the 10th, whereas races after that drew pools in the $15,000 to $20,000 range. Head-to-head pools throughout the early card did not exceed $6,000 in any race, but a head-to-head bet offered for the Derby had handle of $135,256 (which was 0.06 percent of the total wagering on the race). In the Derby head to head, players got either the trio of Further Ado, Renegade, and Commandment or the rest of the field – meaning one of those three had to finish ahead of any of the other 15 horses in the race for the trio players to win. The field bet paid off when Golden Tempo beat Renegade to the wire.   Churchill reported that attendance on Saturday, a relatively cool day for May, was 150,415. Last year, the track reported attendance of 147,406.    In the 10th race, the Churchill Downs Stakes, T O Elvis won by 3 1/4 lengths at odds of 5.87-to-1, according to the chart. Wagering on the horse drew attention because the television feed showed the horse at 12-1 approximately one minute to post and then showed the horse at 5-1 when the race started. The win, place, and show pool for the race was $7.35 million, the largest WPS pool of the day aside from the Derby, though that number was not exactly outlandish. Wagering play typically grows throughout the day, and the Churchill field had 11 horses. The nine-horse field in the next race, the Turf Classic, drew $6.95 million in win, place, and show bets, the third-largest WPS pool of the day. Still, it’s likely that a number of large bettors, including CAW players, targeted the horse late in the win and exacta pools. The horse that finished second, Disruptor, was 7.13-to-1, and the $2 exacta paid $108.44. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.