Kentucky Derby future bet winners get $64.40 payout on Animal Kingdom

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Animal Kingdom returned $64.40 for a $2 win bet in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, the only time the colt was listed as a separate wagering interest during the three parimutuel futures pools offered annually by Churchill Downs.

Animal Kingdom was part of the mutuel field in the first two pools, offered Feb. 18-20 and March 11-13, before emerging as a Derby contender by winning the March 26 Vinery Spiral at Turfway Park and being listed separately when Pool 3 was offered April 1-3.

Win payoffs on the field, the 24th or “all others” option, were $6.20 for Pool 1 and $9.40 for Pool 2. Animal Kingdom paid $43.20 on Derby Day.
The $64.40 win payoff in Pool 3 was one of the largest since Churchill started the Derby futures in 1999 but does not approach the record payoff of $188 on Funny Cide from Pool 1 in 2003.

It was the sixth time in 13 years that a field horse from Pool 1 has won the Derby. The field has closed as the Pool 1 favorite all 13 years.
Interestingly, the exactas from the first two futures pools were paid with the field over the third-place finisher Mucho Macho Man, because both Animal Kingdom and runner-up Nehro were field horses in those pools. The Pool 1 payoff for the 24-13 combination was $230 for $2, and the Pool 2 payoff for the 24-12 combination was $338.20.

The Pool 3 exacta (1-12), when both Animal Kingdom (31-1) and Nehro (26-1) were separate interests, returned a whopping $3,074.60 for $2. The Derby Day payoff was $329.80.

In the only Kentucky Oaks Future Wager offered this year (March 11-13), Plum Pretty returned $21.80 as a member of the field, versus the $14.60 she paid on Oaks Day. The exacta payoff also was made to the third-place finisher, Zazu, because St. John’s River also was a field horse. The 24-23 combination paid $142.20 for $2.

Meanwhile, the two-day wagers offered by Churchill attracted strong handle once again. The Oaks-Derby double, first used in 1996, attracted $2,248,079, with the $2 payoff on the combination of Plum Pretty and Animal Kingdom (12-16) returning $345.60. The Oaks-Woodford-Derby pick 3, first offered in 2009, handled $537,146, with the winning 12-7-16 combination returning $974.70 for a 50-cent bet.