Does Essential Quality have the essential ingredients to win this year’s race? Tennesseeans looking to get in on the Kentucky Derby betting action will be asking that question this weekend.
The 147th Kentucky Derby will return to its customary running on Saturday, May 1.
Post time is 5:57 p.m. CT and NBC is televising the event.
Kentucky Derby betting in Tennessee
Volunteer State bettors can access the $3 million race, the first jewel of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown, via the TwinSpires horse racing app.
Bettors can not only make wagers, but stream the races and view replays using this site.
This app is a legal race betting website in the US, and is a great option for horse betting in Tennessee. Bettors can use advanced deposit wagering (ADW) to get in on the race action.
This is the first leg of horse-racing’s celebrated Triple Crown. It will be followed by the Preakness Stakes on May 15 and the Belmont Stakes on June 5.
Bettors can use TwinSpires to wager on those races as well.
Derby welcomes back more fans in 2021
Ideal racing conditions, including sunshine and a fast track, are expected to greet the approximately 45,000 spectators at this year’s Derby.
That’s roughly double the amount allowed last fall, although nowhere near the 2015 record of 170,513.
That attendance mark was set when American Pharoah won the Derby enroute to the first Triple Crown sweep since Affirmed in 1978.
There have been 13 Triple Crown winners in thoroughbred horse-racing history. The last was Justify, in 2018.
The first Derby was run in 1875. The immortal Secretariat set the world record for this 1 ¼-mile event at 1:59.40 in 1973.
None of the horses have ever gone this distance.
All 45,000 fans at the track will be waiting to see what the horses can do this year.
2021 Kentucky Derby post positions
Here are the post positions heading into this year’s race.
- Known Agenda
- Like The King
- Brooklyn Strong
- KeepMeInMind
- Sainthood
- 0 Besos
- Mandaloun
- Medina Spirit
- Hot Rod Charlie
- Midnight Bourbon
- Dynamic One
- Helium
- Hidden Stash
- Essential Quality
- Rock Your World
- King Fury
- Highly Motivated
- Super Stock
- Soup And Sandwich
- Bourbonic
Keep a lookout, as odds could shift substantially before post time.
Essential Quality was listed as the 2-1 favorite in Tuesday’s draw. He’s 5-for-5 in his career and comes off a victory in the Blue Grass Stakes.
Rock Your World, 5-1, won the Santa Anita Derby in wire-to-wire fashion. He has the highest Beyer speed figure in the race, at 100. The Beyer speed figure combines a horse’s performance in a given race with the conditions of the track surface and the track record for that distance.
Highly Motivated, 10-1, matched strides with Essential Quality down the stretch in the Blue Grass before being nipped at the wire. He will be significantly bet.
Hot Rod Charlie, 8-1, captured the Louisiana Derby and lost narrowly to Essential Quality in the Breeders Cup Juvenile last fall.
Known Agenda, 6-1, drew the dreaded rail, which hasn’t produced a Derby winner since Ferdinand in 1986. This winner of the Florida Derby will either have to bolt from the gate to reach the first turn early, or be stuck behind a wall of horses in the backstretch.
Midnight Bourbon and O Besos ran necks apart, finishing second and third respectively to Hot Rod Charlie in the Louisiana Derby. They opened at 20-1.
Super Stock, 30-1, showed improvement by beating Concert Tour in the Arkansas Derby after being beaten by him in the Rebel Stakes.
Common types of horse racing bets
There are many different ways you can bet on the Kentucky Derby.
Win, place, and show bets
First, you can place a win bet, which is a wager on the horse to cross the finish line first.
You can also put down a place bet. For a place bet, your horse must come in second or better. This will garner a smaller payout than a win bet.
For a show bet, your horse will need to come in third place or higher. This will be for a smaller payout than a win or place wager.
Exactas and Trifectas
In an Exacta bet, you pick the top two finishers in exact order. It’s good to box them. A 7-9 exacta box, for instance, provides a victory whether the horses finish 7-9 or 9-7.
With a Trifecta box, a $1 box of any three horses in the top three spots costs $6. The three horses you choose must finish in the top three spots for your bet to win.
You can also wager using a Trifecta key. For this bet, you choose a “key” horse to win over the others.
Using a four-horse example, if you “Key” #1 over #2, #3, and #4, you need #1 to win and any combo of the 2-3-4 to finish second and third. A $1 trifecta key costs $6.
Consider a trifecta bet if you think a couple long shots can hit the board. That could have been one route to cashing the $1 trifecta worth over $1,300 or the $1 superfecta that paid close to $8,000 last year.
No matter which wager you choose, there are plenty of fun ways to get in on the Kentucky Derby betting action this year.
