Kentucky Derby Picks, Tips, Expert Betting Predictions

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.