A field of 20 horses is set for the 143rd Kentucky Derby on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky. The early favorite is Classic Empire, who is currently going off at 4-1 odds coming out of post position 14. Two horses seen set to challenge — the Derby winner Always Dreaming and McCraken — are both at 5-1 odds, from post positions 5 and 15, respectively.
Long-shots, at 50-1, are Fast and Accurate, set for the number 3 position, and Sonneteer in the 12 slot.
The entrants qualify for the Run for the Roses through the Road to the Kentucky Derby, a points system for horses participating in about 35 stakes races for 2 and 3-year-old thoroughbreds, While the number and specific races have changed slightly since the system was introduced in 2013, it replaced a qualifying system which looked only at earnings from graded stakes races worldwide.
Bookmakers have made Classic Empire the odds on favorite in part because since the Road to the Kentucky Derby points system was established in 2013, four straight favorites have won the May classic. Classic Empire comes into Saturday’s race after a disappointing third-place finish behind Irish War Cry and Gunnevera in the Holy Bull Stakes
in February. He recovered and won the Arkansas Derby three weeks ago.
Racing analysts say that when Classic Empire is focus, he’s the best in this bunch. “He’s ready,” Classic Empire’s trainer Mark Casse told reporters earlier this week.
Nearly all of the last 41 winners of the Derby were top-three finishers or within four lengths of the victor in the lead-up to first jewel in horse racing’s triple crown. In fact, the past 66 winners all raced at 1 1/8 miles before trying the 1 1/4-mile distance at Churchill Downs. That eliminates Untrapped, after placing sixth Arkansas Derby, and in at 30-1 odds in the fourth start position for Saturday, and long-shot Fast and Accurate, whose longest race on dirt is 1 mile.
Post time is 6:34 p.m. Eastern, May 6, with live coverage on NBC.
