If you’re considering about including the Kentucky Derby in your sports betting this week, it’s important to understand some differences between betting on horse racing and betting other sporting events in which a point spread is involved. You’re not betting against a house or book, but against other bettors, and the house gets a cut off the top. The odds can also change after you place your wager, which can impact your payout. In addition to picking a horse to win (first), place (second) and/or show (third), you can also place wagers on the order of finish. An “exacta” wager picks the first- and second-place horses in order. A “trifecta” wager does the same thing with the first three places, while a “superfecta” does the same with the first four finishers. You can “box” each of those by betting on all of the possible combinations. So if you box an exacta, the two horses you pick have to finish first and second for you to win, but they can finish in either order. We have your post positions and some suggestions for these high-odds 2019 Kentucky Derby betting picks.
2019 Kentucky Derby Trifecta, Superfecta and Exacta Picks
If you’re wondering how much money you can make from an exacta, trifecta or superfecta, take a look at what people won last year. The first three horses were Justify, Good Magic and Audible. If you bet $2 on the exacta, and you got Justify and Good Magic in order, you won $69.60 — not a bad payout. Also, if you put $2 on the trifecta and got all three in order, you walked away with $141.40, a huge return on investment. If you also got the fourth horse (Instilled Regard) right in a superfecta, that $1 bet turned into $19,618.20. The favorite at the Kentucky Derby has won six years in a row. That’s a very long streak. This year, Omaha Beach has come and gone as the favorite — perhaps if Bob Baffert were his trainer, that fluctuation wouldn’t have happened, but it has. Last year, Justify ended the “Curse of Apollo” — which referred to Apollo, who won the 1882 Kentucky Derby despite not having raced as a two-year-old. No horse had won at Churchill Downs without racing as a two-year-old until Justify did it last year. Now there is another curse to take down — the Curse of #17. No horse has ever won from the #17 post at the Kentucky Derby — not in 144 runnings. Roadster, Bob Baffert’s horse, is at the #17 post this year, and in a field that is open, I’m taking him to win. Next comes Omaha Beach. That horse has shown that it can get out in front early and keep running well on a variety of surfaces. Given the large number of slow starters in this race, a horse that can get out and establish a lead has a significant edge. Third comes Tacitus. He’s flying under the radar right now, but no horse picked up more points in Kentucky Derby qualification than he did. Fourth is Code of Honor. His workouts at Churchill Downs have looked solid, and he is one of those horses that starts slowly but has a big finish, and with the 1 ¼ mile course at Churchill Downs, I like him to come from the back and take fourth.Gang’s all here! The last of the #KyDerby and Oaks horses arrived at @ChurchillDowns yesterday. pic.twitter.com/4AT4n9ALZe
— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) May 1, 2019
- Exacta: Roadster, Omaha Beach
- Trifecta: Roadster, Omaha Beach, Tacitus
- Superfecta: Roadster, Omaha Beach, Tacitus, Code of Honor
