Kentucky Derby Picks, Tips, Expert Betting Predictions

Female Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby
by T.O. Whenham - 5/2/2011

When Rosie Napravnik, who also goes by her first name Anna at times, enters the 2011 Kentucky Derby starting gate aboard Pants on Fire, she’ll be just the sixth female jockey to ride in the race. All she has to do is finish in the Top 10 — a real possibility since she’s on a live horse in a reasonably weak field — to be the highest finishing female jockey of all time.

Horses That Can Win the Kentucky Derby
by T.O. Whenham - 4/29/2011

I have been watching the Kentucky Derby avidly for almost 30 years. In that time I don’t remember seeing a class as confounding and underwhelming as this one. Most years the problem is that there are so many exciting horses that choosing just one is all but impossible. This year the problem is that I’m not convinced that there is any horse good enough to win. There will be a winner though -- that much I know for sure.

2011 Kentucky Derby Contenders
by T.O. Whenham - 4/21/2011

This upcoming Kentucky Derby seems to be unlike any we have seen in recent years — and not in a good way. The field is as muddied and unclear as it has ever been. Top contenders have been disappointing, and longshots have won the biggest races. Frankly, it doesn’t seem like any horses this year are particularly good. Still, on the first day of May there will be some horse wearing roses, and some bettors who are very happy — especially because the payoffs stand a good chance of being very high because of the uncertainty.

2011 Kentucky Derby Contenders Early Look
by T.O. Whenham - 4/19/2011

Want two words to describe the Kentucky Derby trail this year? That’s easy — horrible mess. I’ve been a diehard fan of the Kentucky Derby -- my favorite sporting event — for decades now. In all of that time I have never seen a field of Kentucky Derby contenders this uncertain, undistinguished, and underwhelming as what we have this year. Which horse is the best in the country? Hard to know — none of them have stepped up to the challenge. Who is going to be the favorite in the race? Could be anyone — though it’s certain to not be a heavy favorite. Who’s going to win? Your guess is as good as mine. A dart board is as good of a tool as any to sort through this field.

2011 Kentucky Derby Futures Odds and Predictions
by David Schwab - 3/30/2011

The 137th running of the Kentucky Derby, horse racings’ most prestigious event, is scheduled for Saturday, May 7, at historic Churchill Downs in Louisville. Twenty of the top three-year-old thoroughbreds will compete in the annual ‘Run for the Roses’ in a field that has been determined by more than 60 prep races that are held from the beginning of the year until mid-April. These prep races not only set the field for the Derby, they also provide some solid insight into which horses have the best chance to win the race.

2010 Kentucky Derby Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 5/1/2010

The Kentucky Derby is just around the corner. Finally. I start watching two year olds closely every year in about mid-August in hopes of spotting the ones that will be a factor in early May. It's all in preparation for my favorite sporting event of the year. Sadly, it doesn't turn into a winning day at the windows as often as it should. I put that down to the fact that no race is tougher to handicap than the Kentucky Derby. Or more compelling. With all the preparation over, and nothing left but the waiting, it's time to make some final 2010 Kentucky Derby predictions.

2010 Kentucky Derby Preview
by Robert Ferringo - 4/30/2010

We’re just over 24 hours away from the Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports as we set up for the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. This year’s field is as wide open as any in recent memory. California turf horses are dominating the roster, turf horses are prohibitive favorites, the weather could again be a factor, the best three-year-old in the country isn’t in the race, and beyond that it’s just like every other race at Churchill Downs.

2010 Kentucky Derby Picks
by T.O. Whenham - 4/30/2010

There can never be enough ways to bet on the Kentucky Derby. It's the greatest single betting event of the year, so the more ways to 'invest' your money, the better. To help you in this pursuit, Bodog has released a impressive number of prop bets to give you different ways to bet and win. Here's a look at some of the more interesting ones and I will offer some Kentucky Derby picks to help fatten your bankroll:

Kentucky Derby Handicapping: The Post Position Draw
by Robert Ferringo - 4/29/2010

Well, it wasn’t exactly the NBA lottery draw, but the Kentucky Derby post position draw took place on Wednesday evening and the field for the Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports is now set. To the untrained eye the post positioning may seem like a random factor of little consequence. After all, it’s a race, right?

2010 Kentucky Derby Trends
by T.O. Whenham - 4/28/2010

It used to be that there were trends in the Kentucky Derby that you just couldn't argue with, and which made it easy to rule horses out of betting consideration. The times they are a-changing when it comes to preparing horses for the Derby, though, so much of what used to be all but guaranteed just isn't as reliable or applicable anymore. Here's a look at a few of the more time-tested Kentucky Derby trends to see how they are holding up, and how they affect this year's race:

2010 Kentucky Derby Pace Scenario
by T.O. Whenham - 4/28/2010

Some people have nightmares about monsters, death, or falling. Mine are about the 2001 Kentucky Derby. That year I was absolutely and totally in love with Point Given, the massive Bob Baffert-trained son of Thunder Gulch. He won the Preakness and the Belmont that year with ease, and was the best horse we have seen in the Triple Crown races during the painful 32 year Triple Crown drought (a bold claim, but I stand behind it).

2010 Kentucky Derby Jockeys
by T.O. Whenham - 4/27/2010

The horses get most of the attention in the Kentucky Derby, with the trainers a distant second. The guys who really deserve the most attention, though, are the jockeys. There isn't another race in which the jockeys play a bigger role or have to do more to get their horse to the finish line. The horses in the Derby are at such an early stage in their personal development, and they are facing so many new things in this race - the field size, the level of talent, the craziness of the crowd - that the winning horse isn't always the best, but the one that the jockey was best able to calm down and get focused.

Fillies in the 2010 Kentucky Derby
by T.O. Whenham - 4/27/2010

For just the third time in the last 12 years, it looks like there is going to be a filly - a female horse - in the Kentucky Derby. Top trainer Todd Pletcher has signified his intention to send Devil May Care into the Derby instead of the Kentucky Oaks, the race she was originally targeting. The move comes as a bit of a surprise - Pletcher has had as many as eight horses pointing at the Derby in recent weeks, but this filly was not mentioned among that group until Pletcher let it be known that he was considering the move.

Printable Kentucky Derby Trivia Questions and Answers
by T.O. Whenham - 4/27/2010

If there's one thing that is obviously undeniable it's that girls dig guys who are good at trivia. The more obscure the better. If you can answer all of these Kentucky Derby trivia questions properly then you'll be a trivia god, and the girls will be all over you on Derby day. Be warned, though - these questions are very hard:

Kentucky Derby Favorite Eskendereya Out
by T.O. Whenham - 4/25/2010

In the biggest shock of the 2010 Kentucky Derby, Eskendereya, the heavily-favored, Todd Pletcher-trained horse that was likely to go off at less than 2/1 after winning the Wood Memorial in stunningly powerful fashion, has been scratched from consideration for the race less than a week before post time. Pletcher isn't being very specific, but a left leg 'issue' was detected after his workout on Saturday, and it didn't resolve itself overnight.

Horses that can Win the 2010 Kentucky Derby
by T.O. Whenham - 4/23/2010

If there is one thing that Mine That Bird last year, and horses like Giacomo and Monarchos before him, have taught us it's that any horse that starts the Kentucky Derby can win it. That being said, there are some horses that just plain have a better chance of winning it all than others. When lesser horses have won the race it's typically because a strange pace scenario has forced horses to throw out their gameplans and just make it up as they go along. A bad pace - too fast usually - can cause the whole race to explode, and leave it for an unlikely horse to pick up the pieces.

Todd Pletcher at the Kentucky Derby
by T.O. Whenham - 4/22/2010

Some editions of the Kentucky Derby feature one storyline that eclipses all others. Two years ago it was the dominance of Big Brown. In 2000 it was as if Fusaichi Pegasus was the only horse on the planet. This year the story is unquestionably the ridiculous embarrassment of riches that trainer Todd Pletcher has at hand.