The 2019 Kentucky Derby will be the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, and will take place on Saturday, May 4, 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky. The field is open to 20 horses, who qualify for the race by earning points on the 2019 Road to the Kentucky Derby. The purse for 2019 was increased from US$2 million to US$3 million. The Derby is held annually on the first Saturday in May, at the end of the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. It is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1 ¹⁄₄ miles, and has been run at Churchill Downs racetrack since its inception in 1875.
The 2019 Kentucky Derby Live
How to watch the Kentucky Derby
- Date: Saturday, May 4, 2019
- Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky
- Post time: 6:50 p.m. ET
- TV channel: NBC
- Online Stream: NBC Sports Live (subscription required) or stream live on fubo.tv – start a free trial
- TV broadcast time: 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET
Kentucky Derby opening odds
(Source: CBS Sportsline, as of May 2)
Be sure to take a look at picks by Jody Demling, "Hammerin'" Hank Goldberg, and Rick Eng.
- Game Winner 5-1
- Roadster 6-1
- Improbable 6-1
- Maximum Security 10-1
- Tacitus 10-1
- Code of Honor 15-1
- Win Win Win 15-1
- War of Will 20-1
- Tax 20-1
- By My Standards 20-1
- Vekoma 20-1
- Plus Que Parfait 30-1
- Cutting Humor 30-1
- Haikal 30-1
- Long Range Toddy 30-1
- Spinoff 30-1
- Country House 30-1
- Gray Magician 50-1
- Master Fencer 50-1
The 2019 Kentucky Derby is nearly here and the corridors of Churchill Downs have been buzzing with news. Race favorite Omaha Beach was scratched with an entrapped epiglottis, turning the entire 2019 Kentucky Derby odds board on its head. It was a tough break for trainer Richard Mandella, who was seeking his first Kentucky Derby win. A number of horses saw their 2019 Kentucky Derby odds shorten after the unfortunate news. Bob Baffert's Game Winner is the new 2019 Kentucky Derby favorite at 9-2, Jason Servis' Maximum Security jumped to 8-1 and Bill Mott's Tacitus also moved to 8-1. The drama continued late in the week too, as Haikal scratched with a foot injury on Friday, chopping the field to 19 Kentucky Derby horses, and Mike Smith hitched a ride on Cutting Humor after Omaha Beach's exit. Post time is 6:46 p.m. ET on Saturday. Before making your 2019 Kentucky Derby picks, listen to what SportsLine horse racing expert Jody Demling has to say.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling is coming off three impressive handicapping weekends. He hit the exacta, trifecta and superfecta in the Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes, winning $408.38 on a $38.40 investment. That came one week after nailing the exacta, trifecta and superfecta in the Arkansas Derby. And on April 6, he nailed the exacta and trifecta in the Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes and Wood Memorial. He's excelled picking Kentucky Derby prep races and knows a winning horse when he sees one.
Those horse racing picks continued Demling's astonishing start to 2019, in which he also nailed the superfecta at the prestigious Pegasus World Cup -- a $678 payout on a $1 bet -- and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes.
Plus, he's hit nine of the last 10 Derby-Oaks doubles at Churchill Downs. That means he's held a ticket with the winners of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby all but one time in the last decade. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, Demling has analyzed the entire 2019 Kentucky Derby lineup and released where he believes every horse will finish.
One shocker: We can tell you he says Roadster, one of the top 2019 Kentucky Derby favorites at 5-1, doesn't even crack the top five. The Bob Baffert horse will be coming out of the No. 16 post on Saturday, and that wide trip could be problematic for the three-year-old Santa Anita Derby winner.
In that Santa Anita Derby win, Roadster had an easy run on the inside where he was able to hang back eight lengths off the pace before swinging wide down the stretch to run down Game Winner, who ran the entire race from the outside. However, this time around, Roadster will be forced to make the longer run and could be forced into a more frantic early pace.
Demling has locked in his 2019 Kentucky Derby picks for Game Winner, now the favorite at 9-2. The Omaha Beach beach injury will move the Baffert-trained three-year-old inside one position, making the trip a little shorter from the 15th post for the 2019 Kentucky Derby favorite. That's an appealing setup for a horse who showed plenty of speed as an undefeated two-year-old and who finished second to Omaha Beach and Roadster in his last two runs.
Game Winner's connections have been staples of the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Joel Rosario will look to stalk the pace with Game Winner and won the garland of roses in 2013 with Orb. Game Winner's trainer, Baffert, already has five victories on the first Saturday in May and took down this race last year with Justify. Baffert has admittedly been bringing Game Winner along easily this season and the legendary trainer should have him in peak form as he locks into the gate for the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
Demling also has a strong read on Maximum Security, one of the favorites in the latest Kentucky Derby 2019 odds at 8-1. One of only three horses who have posted a Beyer Speed Figure of at least 100 this season (along with Omaha Beach and Improbable), Maximum Security turned heads in the Florida Derby, besting a field that included fellow 2019 Kentucky Derby contenders Code of Honor (12-1) and Bodexpress (30-1), who replaced Omaha Beach.
That being said, Servis hasn't run Maximum Security competitively outside of Gulfstream Park, and the Florida Derby win that landed the three-year-old into the 2019 Kentucky Derby lineup was his only race longer than seven furlongs. Stepping up to a 1 1/4-mile marathon at Churchill Downs on Saturday could be a challenge and he won't get the easy pace that allowed him to cruise in his last ride.
Demling is revealing his exact finish positions for Game Winner, Maximum Security, and every other horse in the 2019 Kentucky Derby field. He is especially high on a monumental long shot who's heating up at just the right time. Find out who it is, and get his full 2019 Kentucky Derby picks, only at SportsLine.
So which horse wins the Kentucky Derby? Where do Game Winner and Maximum Security finish? And what massive long shot does Demling say contends
