Exotic bets galore on Kentucky Derby card
There’s the usual betting smorgasbord available to bettors on the 14-race Saturday card.
Marty McGeeMay 03, 2018
There’s the usual betting smorgasbord available to bettors on the 14-race Saturday card.
Including the lone also-eligible, Blended Citizen, among the 21 entered in Kentucky Derby 144 there are six horses listed at 50-1 on the Churchill morning line. They are Firenze Fire, Lone Sailor, Bravazo, Instilled Regard, Combatant, and Blended Citizen. Seven more are pegged at 30-1.
Aidan O'Brien is widely considered the best trainer in the world, Ryan Moore often lauded as the world's best Thoroughbred jockey, and in Mendelssohn, there's a chance they have come to Kentucky with the best 3-year-old dirt horse in the world.
There are seven jockeys who lay claim to three Derby wins – four of them active and all seven in the Hall of Fame – but only Kent Desormeaux and Victor Espinoza have a chance Saturday of becoming the fourth face chiseled into the side of the Kentucky Derby mountain.
NBC will debut a wire-cam that runs 15-18 feet above the racing surface of the entire backstretch at Churchill Downs during its broadcasts this week of the Kentucky Derby and other races from Churchill Downs
With Saturday's Kentucky Derby now at hand, there is already a strong sense that at the top this is the strongest and deepest Derby class we've seen in years. What's even better, this is an entirely likeable group, too.
The Breeders’ Cup has launched a contest that will award two VIP tickets to its two-day event at Churchill Downs this fall to the winner of a random drawing among those who select the winner of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
The late stallion Scat Daddy gets a shot at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday with a staggering four starters from his penultimate crop, including morning-line favorite Justify and second choice Mendelssohn.
Apparently, Justify and the rest of the California contingent brought the warmer weather with them when they arrived here this week. At least it seemed that way after the frigid temperatures that greeted horses and horsemen alike during training hours for more than a week gave way to much balmier conditions at Churchill Downs on Wednesday.
Winning his first Kentucky Derby in 1997 fueled the desire of trainer Bob Baffert to do it again. He did it. Again. And again. And again.