Tacitus was biggest bargain in Derby Future Wager

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As always, there are overlays and underlays for bettors who took a shot in any of the four pools in the 2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

The most obvious bargain came in Pool 2, where Tacitus – still nothing more than a maiden winner at that point – was 96-1. The eventual winner of the Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial, he is 10-1 on the Churchill Downs morning line Saturday.

Other notable overlays: Roadster (32-1 in Pool 1 and 16-1 in Pool 3), Improbable (17-1 in Pool 1), Vekoma (36-1, 41-1, and 37-1 in the first three pools), and Tax (63-1 in Pool 2 and 59-1 in Pool 3).

Conversely, a few horses were backed at odds lower than their morning lines for Saturday, including Maximum Security (7-1 in Pool 4) and Long Range Toddy (23-1 in Pool 4). At least they’re in the race – as opposed to the 33 horses who were individual interests in at least one pool and wound up missing the race.

The futures pools were offered Nov. 22-25, Feb. 8-10, March 8-10, and April 5-7. Derby sire futures were offered concurrent with Pool 1 for the fourth straight year. Only one sire, Candy Ride (7-1), is represented by more than one starter (Game Winner and Vekoma).

In order, the odds on the mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, in the four pools were 6-5, 5-2, 9-2, and 19-1. Only five horses were individual interests in all four: Game Winner, Improbable, and Vekoma, all of whom run Saturday, and Instagrand and Signalman, neither of whom made the race.

Omaha Beach, who was scratched Wednesday as the 4-1 program favorite, was listed just once as a separate interest (10-1 in Pool 4).

Aggregate handle on the four pools, plus the sire futures, was $1,711,159. The record handle for the future wager is $1,893,353, set in 2018.

Churchill Downs has offered parimutuel futures every year since 1999.