The following are a few of the sportsbook horse racing betting favorite to win the 143rd Kentucky Derby which, as people who like gambling on horse racing know, is scheduled to be run on May 6th.
Classic Empire
This three-year-old colt is the favorite to cross the finish line first come Derby Day. Classic came out victorious at last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity Stakes at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in early 2016. However, he didn’t quite live up to expectations with a third-place finish behind Irish War Cry and Gunnevera at the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream. Classic bounced back, though, with a win at the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn over 1 1/8 miles, which turned him into favorite in Louisville. Bar none the most complete horse in the field and literally born to cover the distance at Churchill Downs, though the question remains whether he can avoid the peaks and valleys of his early season and match the impressive closing speed he displayed at Oaklawn?
Always Dreaming
If Todd Pletcher were a man who enjoyed the nuances of gambling on horse racing – and chances are he might be – Always Dreaming would be his best bet to win his second Kentucky Derby. This colt has three stakes wins and no defeats. Horse racing betting connoisseurs became interested in Always Dreaming when he won out of nowhere at the Grade 1 Florida Derby – and put State of Honor and Gunnevera to shame in the process (insofar as a horse can be said to feel shame). This colt’s modus operandi involves stalking the field until the top of the stretch, but then many horses like that as well, so we’ll have to wait and see how the unseasoned colt performs under pressure.
Irish War Cry
IWC was bred and New Jersey and trained by Graham Motion, who knows about winning the Run of the Roses. This horse had impressive wins at the Holy Bull and at the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct – where he proved that slow and steady does win the race. However, he stank up the joint with a 7th place finish at the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream in between those two wins.
Gunnevera
This colt won the Delta Downs Jackpot in November of 2016 and the Fountain of Youth in March of this year, and fans who enjoy gambling on horse racing fear that he may have peaked then as he finished an underwhelming third at the Florida Derby. On the other hand this horse just may have the best horse racing betting value in the field at the Kentucky Derby, and in fact some experts believe that Florida may have been just a warm-up en route to the Run of the Roses.
McCraken
This horse’s trainer is no stranger to winning the Kentucky Derby; Ian Wilkes led both Unbridled and Street Sense to victories at the Run of the Roses. Unfortunately, an injury at Blue Grass cut McCraken’s pre-Derby preparation short from three races to just two.
