After galloping to a sensational come-from-behind victory at the Blue Grass Stakes, Essential Quality enters the weekend leading the way as a strong +275 betting favourite on the Kentucky Derby odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
With his 1-1/8 mile victory at Keeneland four weeks ago, the Brad Cox-trained colt is now unbeaten in four stakes race appearances and in five overall career outings going into Saturday’s running of the 147th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
Essential Quality has consistently found a higher gear down the stretch in each of his past three wins. However, it remains to be seen if he can maintain that pace while running 1-1/4 miles against the toughest competition of his career.
Pegged as a +475 second favourite at online sports betting sites, Rock Your World likely represents the greatest threat to Essential Quality’s dominance. The John Sadler-trained colt is also undefeated following his runaway victory at the Santa Anita Derby, which also marked his second career stakes race win. This month’s win marked Rock Your World’s first victory on a dirt track, and sets the stage for him to try to become the fourth Santa Anita Derby winner in 10 years to follow up with a victory in the Run for the Roses.
Further down the Kentucky Derby odds, Known Agenda sits at +750, just ahead of Hot Rod Charlie at +800, Highly Motivated at +1200, and Medina Spirit at +1400.
Hot Rod Charlie has made steady gains on the odds in the wake of his recent upset win at the Louisiana Derby, and is well positioned to close the gap on the favourites ahead of post time. Conversely, it was Medina Spirit who outpaced Hot Rod Charlie when they went head-to-head in January’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes. However, the three-year-old colt, trained by the legendary Bob Baffert, has been forced to settle for second place in his past two outings.
Canada will be represented at this year’s race by Keepmeinmind, who sits near the bottom of the betting lines as a +5500 longshot. Trained by Calgary native Robertino Diodoro, and owned by Arnold Bennewith of Whiterock, BC, Keepmeinmind has produced mixed results in five career stakes races. He tallied his lone career win in the Kentucky Jockeys Club Stakes back in January, but is coming off a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes.
While the spotlight is fixed on the Kentucky Derby favourites, prop betting options for the race are also available at sportsbooks heading into the weekend. They include the odds of Saturday’s winner having also won his previous race, which sit at -280. The odds of any horse eclipsing Secretariat’s record-setting time of 1:59:40 on Saturday sit back at a distant +1400.
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