The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuously-held sporting event in the country, and on Saturday at Churchill Downs, the great American tradition returns with the 145th edition of the race. Held every year without interruption since the inaugural running in 1875, the Run for the Roses features a competitive field, with no horse shorter than 9-2 in the current 2019 Kentucky Derby odds. Bob Baffert trains three of the top favorites in the 2019 Kentucky Derby: Game Winner (6-1), Improbable (5-1) and Roadster (9-1). The overall favorite is the Jason Servis-trained Maximum Security, who's listed at 9-2. Post time for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby 2019 is 6:50 p.m. ET. With so much to consider before entering your 2019 Kentucky Derby picks, a little expert help can go a long way.
History could be made on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Baffert, who has won the Derby five times (1997, 1998, 2002, 2015 and 2017), can tie Ben Jones for the most career Kentucky Derby wins by a trainer with six. Meanwhile, Hall of Fame trainers Bill Mott, who trains Tacitus, and Steve Asmussen, who trains Long Range Toddy, will attempt to complete their resumes by winning their first Kentucky Derby. Finally, 58-year-old Jon Court will become the oldest jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby when he hops aboard Long Range Toddy, breaking the record of Bobby Baird, who was 57 when he rode in 1978.
Given all the history, there's a method to picking which horses to focus on for exacta, trifecta, and superfecta bets in a Kentucky Derby like this, and SportsLine's Jody Demling knows what it is. He can help you make the top 2019 Kentucky Derby picks possible.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling comes into the Kentucky Derby 2019 on a mind-blowing streak: He has hit the Derby-Oaks double at Churchill Downs nine of the last ten years. That means he held a ticket with the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks nine times in the last decade.
Demling has also been on fire in the Preakness. In fact, he nailed his ninth Preakness in the last 14 years with Justify. He followed that up by predicting Justify's groundbreaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, as well as calling the winners of the Haskell Invitational and Pennsylvania Derby, just to name a few. Recently, he also crushed his exotics like the superfecta in the Pegasus World Cup, Robert B. Lewis Stakes, and Arkansas Derby. Anyone who has followed him is up huge.
Here's a refresher on those bet types from horse racing guru Jody Demling:
Exacta: Pick the first- and second-place finishers in the correct order. This paid over $69 on a $2 bet at last year's Kentucky Derby with Justify and Good Magic.
Trifecta: Pick the first-, second- and third-place finishers in the correct order. This paid over $282 on a $2 bet at last year's Kentucky Derby with Justify, Good Magic, and Audible.
Superfecta: Pick the first-, second-, third- and fourth-place finishers in the correct order. This paid over $39,000 in last year's Kentucky Derby on a $2 bet with Justify, Good Magic, Audible, and Instilled Regard.
While Demling has no quibbles with the favorite status of Maximum Security (9-2) given the weather, he plans to hold tickets with Improbable (5-1), Roadster (9-1), plus two double-digit underdogs.
Demling has specific recommendations for win, place, show, trifecta and superfecta so you can cover all your bases at the Kentucky Derby 2019. And he's sharing them over at SportsLine.
So which horses do you take? And in what combinations? Visit SportsLine to get Demling's picks for win, place and show as well as his trifecta and superfecta bets for the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
