Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Forte is late 5-2 favorite
As expected, Forte was the heavy favorite going into thefinal day of pari-mutuel betting in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
The Eclipse Award winner who will be the top choice Saturdayevening in the Florida Derby (G1) carried 5-2 win odds in pool 6 of the KDFW,which closes at 6 p.m. EDT. That will be 40 minutes before the $1 million raceat Gulfstream Park.
UAE Derby (G2) winner Derma Sotogake, who will try to becomethe first horse from Japan to win America’s biggest race, was the second choicein the KDFW at 10-1. He had $658 more bet on him than Louisiana Derby (G2)victor Kingsbarns, who also was 10-1 headed into Saturday.
Tapit Trice, Forte’s stablemate who won the Tampa Bay Derby(G3) for trainer Todd Pletcher, was the fourth choice at 11-1.
Reincarnate, the morning-line favorite for the $1.25 millionArkansas Derby (G1), was 21-1 to win May 6 at Churchill Downs. His race Saturdaywill come nearly two hours after KDFW betting is completed.
There were $138,360 bet into the win pool by 11:50 p.m. EDTon Friday, according to the Kentucky Derby website. There were $51,073 in the exacta pool, where aForte-Derma Sotogake result was the favorite at 34-1.
This is thesecond year Churchill Downs, which runs the KDFW, established what amounts to aSaturday post time for the final pool. One reason given was to offer theopportunity for more value – and more risk – on horses who had yet to run inthe two major preps Saturday.
Here is acomparison of the Las Vegas futures Friday night at Caesars Sportsbook, CircaSports and the Westgate SuperBook with the Churchill Downs odds for thepari-mutuel KDFW, showing best prices in bold type:
