LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As usual, the way the Churchill toteboard looks when the Derby runners enter the starting gate Saturday will provide a fascinating contrast to how betting unfolded through the winter and spring in the three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
[KENTUCKY DERBY: Get PPs, watch analysis video, read latest updates]
[KENTUCKY OAKS: Get PPs, watch analysis video, read latest updates]
My Adonis, unable to make it into the main body of the field for the Kentucky Derby, will instead compete for a consolation prize as the favorite in Saturday’s Canonero II Stakes at Pimlico.
As an alternative to the 138th Derby, where he was an also-eligible and scratched Friday morning, My Adonis was coss-entered in the $75,000 Canonero II, a 1 1/16-mile race that drew five other 3-year-olds.
My Adonis stands out on class after twice finishing directly behind the juvenile champion Hansen in a pair of early season Grade 3 Derby preps, the Holy Bull and the Gotham.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On Fire Baby has trained hard over the past couple of weeks, punctuating several strong open gallops with a good-looking seven-furlong drill on April 27, during which she finished willingly without undue pressure. Talented, loves the track, but wonder about her missing important final prep in the Fantasy.
[KENTUCKY OAKS: Get PPs, watch analysis video, read latest updates]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hansen’s name had yet to be called and there were only two slots left in the starting gate when post positions were assigned late Wednesday afternoon for Saturday’s 138th Kentucky Derby.
There was a big cheer from the Hansen section of the audience when the name Daddy Long Legs was assigned the dreaded rail post, leaving 2011 juvenile champion Hansen to start from No. 14.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert knows all about the luck of the draw. Had he still been in the air, instead of on the ground, when he suffered a heart attack in late March in Dubai, he doesn’t think he would be have been here at Churchill Downs for the post position draw on Wednesday, the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, nothing.
“He thought he was checking out,” said Baffert’s close friend, owner Bernie Schiappa.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Projected favorites Bodemeister and Union Rags avoided landing post positions to the extreme inside or outside when in Wednesday afternoon’s post draw for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
The former, the Churchill Downs morning-line favorite at 4-1, drew post 6, while Union Rags, the 9-2 second choice, has post 4. Daily Racing Form National Handicapper Mike Watchmaker has Bodemeister at 9-2 and Union Rags at 5-1.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As the lone ungraded stakes Friday at Churchill Downs, the $150,000 Edgewood Stakes for 3-year-old fillies might reasonably be expected to be the softest of the six stakes on Kentucky Oaks day.
[KENTUCKY OAKS: Get PPs, watch analysis video, read latest updates]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's been all or nothing to this point for Good Deed, who has registered four one-sided victories and finished far back twice in six career starts.
On Friday, trainer Steve Margolis will be looking to hit the "all" button again when he sends Good Deed out as one of the top contenders in Churchill Downs' $100,000 Eight Belles Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After winning three straight grass races at Gulfstream Park this winter, Howe Great was given a chance to get on the Kentucky Derby trail, but his fifth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes three weeks ago convinced everyone associated with him that he needed to stay on the turf.
Nine of the 15 starters in the Kentucky Oaks were listed as separate interests in the only Oaks futures pool offered earlier this year (March 2-4) by Churchill. By any gauge, that’s a pretty high percentage to actually make it to the starting gate, considering the list of 23 separate wagering interests was composed two months beforehand.
