How To Wager On Kentucky Derby

Heading to your local racetrack to wager on the Kentucky Derby? While it’s easy to place bets online using your computer or mobile device, there’s something about being at the track, betting in person, and holding actual tickets in your hand that can’t be replicated online. Even losing bets can live on as souvenirs of the day. Unlike the previous years, the Kentucky Derby betting this year will be done online, as we are expecting a fanless Derby field to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. While taking the time to find the best racehorses to gamble on the Run For The Roses, you must also know how to wager like an expert.

  1. Kentucky Derby Betting Sites
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How to bet the Kentucky Derby. Over $150 million is won by bettors wagering on the Kentucky Derby each year. Learn how to bet on the Kentucky Derby here; with tips fro our experts, important information on contenders, and of course the best place to bet on the Kentucky Derby in our official partners and sister site, TwinSpires.com! Plenty of Kentucky Derby fans win big by randomly picking a horse. Some people choose their lucky number, others draw a number out of a hat, and some select their favorite color jockey silk or favorite horse name. There are lots of fun ways to handicap a horse.

Caddo Rivermade a big splash in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2 for 2021 after his 10 1/4-length victory in the Smarty Jonesat Oaklawn Park on Friday. The Brad Cox trainee, who is one of 23 individual betting interests in Pool 2, was listed at 30-1 in the morning line.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has five horses in Pool 2, including Bezos, the first unraced horse to ever be part of the KDFW. Cox has four, while Todd Pletcher, Doug O’Neill and Steve Asmussen each have two.

Since the qualifying points system was instituted in 2013, four horses from Pool 2 went on to win the Run for the Roses — California Chrome in 2014 (paid $63.40 in pool 2 and $7.00 on track), American Pharoah in 2015 ($23.00, $7.80), Nyquist in 2016 ($17.80, $6.60), and Authentic last year ($32.20, $19.60).

Fourteen new horses were added to Pool 2 this year: Bezos, Capo Kane, Concert Tour, Greatest Honour, Mandaloun, Medina Spirit, Mutasaabeq, Olympiad, Prate, Prime Factor, Proxy, Senor Buscador, Speilberg and Wipe the Slate.

In the qualifying points era, California Chrome is still the only new horse added to Pool 2 to ever win the Kentucky Derby.

Let’s take a look at how the Pool 2 horses from the Future Wager performed in the Kentucky Derby for the last eight years.

2020: Six horses from Pool 2 were in the Derby field. Interestingly, they all finished among the top seven and were led by the win and place horses, Authentic and Tiz the Law. The Pool 2 exacta paid $205.60 compared with the on-track price of $41.00.

2019: Seven horses from Pool 2 made it to the race, with Tacitus finishing third. Twelve new betting interests were added, and four of them made it into the gate. The futures exacta included the #24, the field or “All Other 3-year-olds” because the eventual winner Country House did not appear until Pool 3.

Kentucky

2018: Again, the futures exacta included the field because Triple Crown winner Justify did not show up until Pool 3. In total, 10 horses from Pool 2 were in the Derby, including the second, third, and fourth place finishers. Six new betting possibilities were added, and the third-place Audible was one of them.

2017: Derby winner Always Dreaming was yet another one who made his Future Wager debut in Pool 3, and that means that the exacta used the All Other 3-year-olds interest. Nine from Pool 2 made it to the First Saturday in May, with Lookin At Lee getting a place finish. From the 10 new betting interests added to Pool 2, only the 12th-place horse was in the Derby.

2016: Pool 2 betting interests swept the top four spots in Derby, led by the 2-year-old Champion Nyquist, and half the field came from Pool 2. Thirteen new horsesn were added to Pool 2, but only three made it to the race.

2015: Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was one of 10 Pool 2 betting interests to make it to the Derby field. The nine new horses added to Pool 2 included Firing Line, who finished second and completed a Pool 2 exacta that did not include the field.

2014: Derby winner California Chrome was one of 14 new individual interests added, with seven of them being the only horses to make their way into the starting gate from Pool 2. The futures exacta was completed with a field horse and paid $358.60.

2013:Orb was yet another Derby winner who did not show up in the Future Wager until Pool 3, which means that once again the field #24 was part of the exacta.

How To Wager On Kentucky Derby

Here are the handicapping takeaways for the 2021 Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2.

The list of new betting interests added to Pool 2 is not a place to find the Kentucky Derby winner.

Since the points system started in 2013, California Chrome is the only Pool 2 winner to be one of those new betting interests. Most of the horses are added to KDFW 2 based on a maiden win or on a good performance in a 10-point race, and that leaves a lot to accomplish to even make it to the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

Pool 2 has contained the winner of the Derby 50 percent of the time.

As we are not looking for the Derby winner among the 14 new horses in Pool 2, that leaves only nine horses to consider: Caddo River, Essential Quality, Fire At Will, Highly Motivated, Hot Rod Charlie, Jackie’s Warrior, Keepmeinmind, Life Is Good and Midnight Bourbon.

Play these Pool 2 horses to win.

Caddo River
— Even with open-length victories in his last two starts, he will be no lower than the third individual betting choice in Pool 2 behind Life is Good and Essential Quality.

Hot Rod Charlie — He finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile less than a length behind Essential Quality and is expected to make his 2021 debut on Jan. 30 in the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita. Trainer Doug O’Neill is a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.

Use #24 “All Other Interests” in the Future Wager exacta in Pool 2.

Since 2013, five out of the eight exactas included the field horses in one of the positions, four times in the top spot and once on the bottom. In those years, the Pool 2 exacta payout ranged from $69.80 to $550.60.

Play these Pool 2 Future exactas.

All five of these key exacta horses were part of Pool 1. The minimum wager in the exacta pool is $2.

2-Caddo River, 5-Essential Quality, 9-Hot Rod Charlie, 11-Keepmeinmind, 12-Life Is Good with 24-All Other Interests = $10

24-All Other Interests with 2-Caddo River, 5-Essential Quality, 9-Hot Rod Charlie, 11-Keepmeinmind, 12-Life Is Good = $10

Wagering for Pool 2 concludes Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

Related Pages

» Horse: Life Is Good

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Great fun for your Derby Party

Bring the fun
of the track to your backyard with
Backyard Bookie

No Kentucky Derby party is complete without some sort of 'gambling' on the event. There is much that you can do without employing the services of a bookie, illegal in most states, and still capture the fun of betting on the horses. These ideas below have been used for years at Derby parties across the country, and, in many states, as long as no one makes a profit off of the wagering, they're not considered illegal gambling!

  • Put all of the names of the horses in a hat and mix them up. Everyone pays a designated amount, say $1, to pull a name out of the hat. When the race is complete, the person that has the winning horse collects the pot. Or, offer a percentage of the pot for the first place horse, a smaller percentage to the second place horse, and an even smaller percentage to the third place horse.
  • Create a sheet of paper or a poster board with a large block for each horse in the race. Have everyone at the party pay a designated amount to write their name in their favorite horse's box. They can do this for one or more horses and they can also enter their name under a horse more than once. More than one person is allowed to put their name under the same horse.
    At the end of the race, take all of the money divided by the number of bets on the winning horse and distribute that percentage of the pot to each person who chose the winning horse.
  • Run your own betting window with a home pari-mutuel betting software program. With one of these programs, you can take win, place, show, exactas, and other exotic bets just like they are taken at the track. The software calculates the odds based on the bets placed at your party -- so you don't run the risk of losing money. With some products, you can set the software up to hold back a percentage for your favorite charity.
    One of the highest rated software products in this category is Backyard Bookie. You can purchase it for your party for as little as $19.95. Click here for more info.
  • Run a horse 'auction'. Create a grid on a large piece of poster board with four columns as shown below. Label column 1 'Horse Name' and place each horse's name down the column, one in each row of the grid. Label column 2 as Win, column 3 as Place, and column 4 as Show.
    Start off the bidding for the 'show' (or third place) position with the first horse. Run the bidding just like an auctioneer would -- you know, 'Going once, going twice' and all that jazz. The highest bidder for the first horse has his or her name placed in the Show column on the first row, along with the amount bid (use whole dollars only). Collect the money from the highest bidder and then repeat the process for each horse down the column for the 'show' position. Once every horse in the show position has been bid on, total up the 'show' column.
    Repeat the above paragraph for the 'place' (or second place) position. Then repeat for the 'win' (or first place) position.
    After the race is run, the person who bought the horse in the 'win' column that actually wins the race wins the total amount bet in the 'win' column. The person who bought the horse in the 'place' column that actually came in second wins the total amount bet in the 'place' column. And, likewise, the person who bought the horse in the 'show' column that actually came in third wins the total amount in the show column.
    See the sample of the completed betting grid below:
HorseWinPlaceShow
1. Supah BlitzGeorge - $3Fred - $4Jill - $4
2. BrancusiDan - $5George - $8Bill - $10
3. Sir CherokeeBarbara - $30Jeff - $20John - $25
4. AtswhatimtalkinPatty - $20Perry - $18Perry - $20
5. Peace RulesDan - $45Mike - $30Joe - $25
6. Funny CideJohn - $30Mary - $15Jill - $12
7. Offlee WildMike - $4Fred - $5Joe - $6
8. Buddy GilTony - $50Tony - $40Tony - $40
9. Indian ExpressJeff - $38Lori - $20Amy - $18
10. Lone Star SkyMary - $5Lori - $5Kathryn - $5
11. Domestic DisputeJane - $2Patty - $3Bill - $4
12. Empire MakerFred - $80Mary - $65Fred - $40
13. Eye of the TigerBill - $15Joe - $12Ed - $8
14. Ten CentsJoe - $55Nick - $40Mel - $25
15. Outta HereKathryn - $6Susan - $5Susan - $4
16. Ten Most WantedLori - $42Lori - $35George - $20
17. ScrimshawKaren - $29Jane - $25Jeff - $22

Total

$459$350$288

Funny Cide finished first, Empire Maker second, and Peace Rules third. So, John wins the $459 win pot, Mary wins the $350 place pot, and Joe wins the $288 show pot.