Another year has come and gone at Churchill Downs, and the historic Kentucky track is making its final preparations for the 139th Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 4.
Posts and odds were announced on Wednesday afternoon at the track, and among those horses who have to like their current draw are Revolutionary (No. 3), Orb (No. 16) and Verrazano (No. 14), three horses with the pedigree and training to take home the rose bouquet on Saturday afternoon.
Contenders and favorites mean nothing at post time, however, when the 20-horse field will all be on equal footing with respect to crossing the finish line first. The past two Derbys have produced long-shot winners, and every year it seems a new horse is ready to surprise us despite having low odds.
As you prepare for the Derby and all its two-minute splendor on Saturday afternoon, make sure you have all the necessary times, horses and information readily available to both be properly informed and not miss any of this year's epic race.
*Odds courtesy the NBC Sports Network broadcast, can also be found at DRF.com. Post positions via the Kentucky Derby's official Twitter account.
While the focus on Saturday will be all about the horses, the jockeys riding them will be a major selling point for viewers at home.
Goldencents, operating in the No. 8 post, will be ridden by African American jockey Kevin Krigger, who is trying to become the first such jockey to win the Derby since Jimmy Winkfield's two-straight wins in 1901 and 1902.
Despite the century-mark feat Krigger could break on Saturday, he's maintained throughout this process that winning is his biggest goal (h/t Mellissa Hoppert of the New York Times).
While Krigger has stolen the show, Rosie Napravnik will also be looking to make history as the first woman to ever jockey a winning horse. She broke the all-time women's record in that department with a ninth-place finish in 2011, but will have another chance to break her own record and even grace the winner's circle by the time the event ends.
Calvin Borel and Gary Stevens both have three career Kentucky Derby wins, and a win for either would move said jockey into second place on the all-time list at this event. The pair will be starting next to each other in posts two and three, and the man who finds his way to the inside first might have a leg up on the Derby finish line.
Other jockeys in this race with a Derby win include John Velasquez (2011, riding Verrazano on Saturday), Mike Smith (2005, riding Palace Malice on Saturday) and Edgar Prado (2006, riding Charming Kitten on Saturday).
The jockeys could very well steal the show in this race, but don't count on it—we know this race is about which horse will take its first step toward the Triple Crown.
If the sound you hear when you ask that to a group of 100 people is a cackle of different answers, don't worry—it's a sentiment that many are finding true as oddsmakers and interested parties try to sift through the current field.
Orb is the favorite right now, but his 7-2 odds aren't anything special compared to past favorites at post time, and both Verrazano and Goldencents are among those sitting pretty with high odds before the race begins on Saturday afternoon.
No horse dominated the "Race to the Derby" warm-up events, and Orb is really the only horse that can come into this event with a huge claim to that mantle, winning his last three races heading into Saturday's Derby start.
This field has star power at the top, but also has enough depth to provide us with an upset from either the outside or inside posts. Simply put, it would be hard to be Mike Battagilia, the morning line oddsmaker, this week.
Rain might be a damper on attending patrons of the Derby on Saturday, but you might be surprised that it has rained on race day 46 percent of the time in the 138 previous races at the track.
As this report from the The Weather Channel confirms, things could get muddy on the track by the late afternoon hours at Churchill Downs.
The race dodged a bullet in 2012 when the track was able to cover from some early-week rain and still run fast for the Derby on Saturday, but ladies could be trading in their hats for umbrellas when post time is here.
Rain will affect the speed and the stability of the entire field, not to mention make things more dangerous for the jockeys and horses on the track. It's never fun to see rain during the Kentucky Derby, but sometimes that's just how it goes—nearly 50 percent of the time, to boot.
The 7-2 favorite is riding a three-race win streak after its maiden win, and the way it has run on the track in warmups this week has done nothing to lose a place at the top of the pre-race rankings.
He drew the No. 16 post on Wednesday, meaning he'll be able to make his own pace on the outside of speedy pace-setters Itsmyluckyday, Falling Sky and Goldencents, while deciding when the best time to make a move past Verrazano will be.
People at the track have been raving about Orb all week. Tim Wilkin noted that one legendary trainer likes what he sees:
With a good post spot and and a pedigree that includes Malibu Moon, Seattle Slew and 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, the experience, genes and talent are all adding up for this horse before post.
Orb is also Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey's most-recent attempt at a Derby winner (as noted by Yahoo! Sports' Pat Forde), something he's never done so far in his career. Adding intrigue from McGaughey's end almost makes Orb too big a story on Saturday, and his odds might get lower before the race.
A horse with four career wins after its maiden one, a second-place finish at the Grade 1 Florida Derby (to Orb) and the experience (10 career starts) to take home a rose bouquet, Itsmyluckyday is a popular pick to defy the odds on Saturday.
It should also have fresh legs, having only run twice since January and most recently at the Florida Derby at the end of March.
As noted by an Associated Press report (h/t St. Louis Post-Dispatch), this horse is flying under the radar, and that's OK—it's a good radar to be off of when getting ready for this event. Trainer Eddie Plesa knows it, too:
"It's a good thing...I don't mind at all. As much as we would have liked to have won it, as much as we were disappointed we didn't win it, the true objective is the race coming up Saturday. Whether he wins or doesn't win the race, he's coming into the race exactly like I would have wanted.
Strong words from a strong trainer, and in a mid-tier post spot, Itsmyluckyday should have a more-favorable position than most to be in the money on Saturday.
Trainer Gary Stevens will be riding Oxbow on Saturday, and this horse's 30-1 odds could be the best among those in that region.
As an inside horse in the No. 2 position, Oxbow will be no stretch be a favorite, but if he can outduel Black Onyx and Revolutionary out of the gate he might have a great chance to pull off this huge upset from out of nowhere.
Oxbow had a disappointing finish at the Arkansas Derby in early April (5th), but does have a win on his resume and a jockey on his back who has ridden three horses to a Derby win before. Two of Stevens' three wins (1988 and 1997) came from the inside post, and he'll have a chance to earn his fourth career Derby win riding Oxbow.
He's a dark horse right now, but that designation can chance within the first few furlongs of the track. It's all about how you finish at Churchill Downs, and Oxbow could be a horse to watch as things play out on Saturday.
Via: FK Anzhi Makhachkala - Rubin Kazan - Russian Premier League
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