My 150th Kentucky Derby Picks!

To help with your enjoyment of the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, I have delved into the stables hidden as a hay bale to get the best information for my dear readers. Had to avoid a near catastrophe and road apples with some horses! But here are my observations and choices from my sleuthing. 

 

Updated Post Positions for the 150th Kentucky Derby presented by @WoodfordReserve.

#9 Encino has scratched and #21 Epic Ride will run. #KyDerby pic.twitter.com/e22qC8vZYg

— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) April 30, 2024

How should I choose my horses for the Kentucky Derby?

There are so many facets to prognostication with every person having their favorites. Special name? Great jockeys? Trainers to never bet against? How the horse did in the prior races? The last section time of prior races? I have mine. Weather, Pole Position, and Great Story!

 

POLE POSITION

If your horse grabbed the 5, 8, 10, 1 or 7 post positions (PP) then you should be feeling good! In the past 94 runnings of the Derby, the #5 PP has seen ten winners. PPs 8 and 10 have won nine times. If your horse was in the #1 or #7 PP, then they won eight races each.

 

Not one horse in the #17 PP has finished champion. Can the favorite, Fierceness, be the first?

 

I like looking at this. Gives me some confidence. And the horses spoke about this when the people were gone for the night. 

MUDDY at the Kentucky Derby

Rain, rain go away. That ain’t happening today. Louisville is expecting rain on and off and a call for possible severe storms could be in store around post time.

 

So the best horses in the mud must be considered. This year’s crop of horses have a few mudders. Sierra Leone, Dornach, and Mystic Dan are winners in wet track conditions already this year.

 

A few owners that spoke near me as I hid motionless by the hay bale were concerned over this.

 

GREAT STORY

 

Two Japanese horses are in the Derby field. Both are undefeated and both grabbed a position right next to each other. This could be an amazing feat to have a foreign group win the Derby. But there is an Ohio connection here when it comes to riders.

 

Jeff Ruby, of the Steakhouse fame, is one of the most outspoken and brutally honest people you will ever meet. In the past nine Kentucky Derby’s, the jockeys that he and his steakhouse sponsors have won 7 of them! Note, though. He does NOT profit from the sponsorships. The money goes to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

 

You asked what horses our jockeys are on in The @KentuckyDerby: Domestic Product, Resilience,Grand Mo the First & from Japan Forever Young and T O Password.( all long shots )Our jockeys have won 5 of the last 7 & 6 of the last 9 Kentucky Derby’s. Good luck everyone🙏🐎 pic.twitter.com/udQiG5LqPq

— Jeff Ruby (@TheRealJeffRuby) May 3, 2024

 

Almost any Cincinnati person will attest…Jeff Ruby is Mr Cincinnati. Thanks to Johnny Bench and Pete Rose, the trio’s partnership has created an iconic restaurant! Want more? Check out the story of how he threw OJ Simpson out of his restaurant in 2007!

 

MY PICKS

 

So for me, I really like Sierra Leone in the #2 PP. Forever Young will be right there at the end. And in the mud give me Dornach.

 

Win        Sierra Leone, Chad Brown (trainer), Tyler Gafflione (jockey).

Place      Forever Young, Yoshito Yahagi (trainer), Sakai Ryusei (jockey).

Show      Dornach, Danny Gargan (trainer), Luis Saez (jockey).

 

And Fierceness will be another favorite to not win the Derby.

 

Who do you all have??

 

Share with us and tag me @petrorock44 and @NEOSportsInsider with your picks.

If you missed my humor article earlier, check out what the world was like in 1875, the first running of the Derby!