Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Field favored entering final day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The mutuel field is holding sway as the favorite after two days of wagering into fourth and final pool in the 2014 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

Pool 4 will close today at 6 p.m. Eastern, prior to the runnings of the Florida Derby and Louisiana Derby.

As of Saturday morning, and with $92,659 in the win pool, the field, the 24th or “all others option,” was the 5-1 favorite, followed by California Chrome (8-1), Cairo Prince (10-1), Social Inclusion (11-1), Candy Boy (13-1), Samraat (14-1), Intense Holiday (15-1), Tapiture (14-1), Constitution (17-1), Ring Weekend (17-1), and Hoppertunity (19-1). Another $42,922 had been bet in exactas.

The field was favored in all three of the earlier pools, which were held Nov. 27-30; Feb. 6-8; and Feb. 27-March 1.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

This is the first year Churchill has had four futures pools for the Derby. Last fall, Churchill moved Pool 1 into the preceding calendar year for the first time.

Handle has slumped noticeably thus far for the Derby futures. Pool 3 handle was $334,326, down 18 percent versus the corresponding period in 2013. Pool 2 handle was $380,249, down a whopping 39 percent for the corresponding period. And Pool 1 handle was $273,174, the fifth-lowest total since the futures were first offered in 1999.

As with any parimutuel wager, odds are not locked in until the pool closes. There are no refunds.

Real-time odds and exacta will-pays are available on selected monitors at tracks and wagering outlets where futures are offered, as well as on kentuckyderby.com.

Minimum wagers are $2 to win and $2 for exactas, although $1 boxes or part-wheels may be used to reach that $2 exacta minimum. In the case of field horses filling both exacta slots, the next-best finish by a separately listed horse will count toward the winning combination.

The 140th Derby will be run May 3.