The 147th edition of the Kentucky Derby is set for Saturday, May 1 at Churchill Downs. The morning line odds will come out Tuesday morning at the post draw. For now, though, Essential Quality is the #1 betting choice, currently available at odds around +250, depending on which book you consult. He is a gray colt who was bred in Kentucky and has a perfect 5-0 racing career. He finished 2020 with a win at the Breeders’ Cup Futurity and has won at the Southwest Stakes and the Blue Grass Stakes so far in 2021.
Let’s take a look at some updates that may influence your online Kentucky Derby betting on horse racing’s most storied event.
Horse Racing News: Kentucky Derby Updates
One interesting trend at this year’s Kentucky Derby is the considerable amount of attrition — in other words, while there will be a full complement of 20 horses at the starting gate, a lot of the horses who finished in the top 20 for qualification points will not participate, which means that horses from further down the point standings will run instead. This means that the field is going to be unusually top-heavy, with a handful of true prospects accompanied by a crew of horses that, at least according to the oddsmakers (and their own performances so far in races) have a scant chance of winning.
One of the biggest recent defections was Concert Tour, who came in third at the Arkansas Derby despite being the favorite. That performance convinced trainer Bob Baffert was not training sufficiently to compete at Churchill Downs, so Baffert will wait to race Concert Tour again until the Preakness Stakes.
With Concert Tour out, the top favorites after Essential Quality, ahead of the post draw, are Known Agenda, Rock Your World, Highly Motivated and Hot Rod Charlie. In addition to Concert Tour, some of the other top horses who are skipping the race include Life Is Good. He was the Derby favorite at times back in the winter, but a hindquarters injury has put him on the shelf until this summer. He has two graded-stakes victories in his career. Greatest Honour won three straight races at Gulfstream, including th eFountain of Youth and the Holy Bull. However, ankle trouble has him on the shelf for the remainder of the spring. Proxy finished second in the Risen Star and the Lecomte before coming in fourth at the Lexington Stakes and the Louisiana Derby. Those two finishes have trainer Mike Stidham pushing Proxy’s next big race into the summer. Weyburn won the Gotham Stakes as a 46-1 longshot, but then he came in fourth at the Wood Memorial, and so now Weyburn will race next on May 8 at the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.
With these horses out, here are some of their replacements. Sainthood only has a maiden victory on his resume. His most recent finish was a runner-up result behind Like the King at the Jeff Ruby Steaks on a synthetic track at Turfway. Hidden Stash has raced in three graded stakes but has won none of them. As the distances have increased, his finishes have declined; he lost at the Blue Grass Stakes by ten lengths in his last race. Dream Shake got his maiden win in California. He has raced in two graded stakes and has lost by an average distance of 8 ¼ lengths. O Besos has two wins in sprints at Fair Grounds back in the winter, but in two-turn starts, he has not won. He was close at the Louisiana Derby, coming in third but right there at the end, so he could be a value pick. Get Her Number has a Grade I stakes win, in the American Pharaoh last fall at Santa Anita. However, the field was not particularly strong, and since then, he has not done well in two prep races at Oaklawn.
So while looking down the odds list can be fun, the only new addition to the race that should draw optimism is O Besos. At this writing, the others look like longshots who will end up in the back.
Kentucky Derby Betting Odds
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