NTRA release

Champion 2-year-old Lookin At Lucky is the favored individual horse, but Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia is confident that the mutuel field, or ‘all others’, will again be the favored wagering interest in the opening pool of the 2010 Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”) that opens its three-day run tomorrow.

Battaglia has installed ‘all others’, which consists of all 3-year-old Thoroughbreds other than the pool’s 23 individual betting interests, as the 5-2 morning line favorite for KDFW Pool 1. Champion Lookin at Lucky, America’s Eclipse Award Champion 2-year-old of 2009, is the favored individual horse at odds of 8-1. The three-day pool opens at noon (all times ET) tomorrow and wagering will continue at racetracks, satellite wagering outlets and online through 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 14. 

Other individuals likely to attract solid Pool 1 support include Remsen winner Buddy’s Saint, unbeaten San Rafael winner Conveyance, Holy Bull runner-up Jackson Bend, and unbeaten Delta Jackpot winner Rule.  Those horses are all listed at 12-1.  Next in line at 15-1 come Hopeful winner Dublin, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Noble’s Promise, and Kentucky Jockey Club winner Super Saver.  Members of that trio are listed as 15-1 risks.

The wager provides an opportunity for fans to wager weeks in advance on contenders for the Kentucky Derby – which will be run at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 1 – and often at odds that are more attractive than those they would receive on the day of the event.  Exacta wagering, a popular addition to the Kentucky Derby Future Wager betting menu in 2009, is back for all three pools in 2010.  The Derby Future bet is a $2 minimum “win” wager.  The minimum wager for a straight exacta, which requires the bettor to select the Kentucky Derby’s top two finishers in the exact order of finish, is $2, while the minimum for exacta boxes and wheels is $1.

The ‘all others’ interest has been the strong favorite in all opening pools during the Future Bet’s previous 11 years – and that interest has been a winning wager in Pool 1 five times.  It happened again in 2009 when Mine That Bird, a 3-year-old that was not an individual betting interest in any of last year’s three KDFW pools, rolled home at odds of 50-1 in the Kentucky Derby.  Other horses that were members of the mutuel field but went on to win the “Run for the Roses” include Charismatic (1999), War Emblem (2002), Smarty Jones (2004), and Big Brown (2008).

“While setting the mutuel field as the favorite in the opening pool of the Kentucky Derby Future wager is pretty much a given, it has gotten more difficult to assign odds to the individual horses,” Battaglia said.  “So many of those horses have raced extensively or exclusively on synthetic tracks, while the Derby is run on traditional dirt.  That’s still a relatively new wrinkle in Derby preparations, but it adds to the fun and the challenge of a making a successful choice in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.”

The winning payouts in all KDFW wagering pools are determined by the odds in place at the conclusion of each respective pool.  There are no scratches or refunds on any wagers made during the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks future pools. 

Real time odds and full entry information on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager will be available online at www.kentuckyderby.com.  Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager is set for March 5-7, while the final pool is scheduled for March 26-29.