2016 KENTUCKY DERBY BETTING
Pro football has the Super Bowl, golf has the Masters Tournament and horse racing has the Kentucky Derby. It's the highest profile horse race of the year for mainstream fans and winning it is a big career goal of every horse owner, jockey and trainer. It draws the largest live crowd of any horse race held in North America and millions more watch it on television. Be a part of history and bet on Kentucky Derby 2016 online that is set to place in 1st week of May 2016.
Featured Racebook
Bovada is one of the best known names in the online horse betting business and their experience in the marketplace dates back even further. Bovada has made a name for themselves for fastest payouts in the industry to US players and best customer support.
- full coverage of North American race tracks
- wide variety of bet types
- weekly race book rewards
- sports betting, casino games and poker also offered
- first rate customer service and payment processing
- a full service, one stop betting destination
THE BASICS OF THE RACE
The entire city of Louisville, Kentucky shuts down for most of the week before the Kentucky Derby and its residents and guests from all over the world enjoy parties, festivals, concerts and other special events. The Kentucky Derby is the first race in American thoroughbred racing's 'Triple Crown' followed by the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The 2016 Kentucky Derby is a grade one stakes race for three year olds run on the dirt track at Churchill Downs over a distance of a mile and a quarter run annually on the first Saturday in May. The race is technically open to both male and female horses as well as geldings however the recent changes to the qualification process have made it exceedingly difficult for fillies to qualify for the race. Under the rules of the Kentucky Derby male horses and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds. There is a maximum of 20 horses in the field and in recent years the field has almost always been 'oversubscribed' meaning that more horses want to get in the race than the limit will allow. In addition to the 20 horses picked to start the Kentucky Derby two other qualifiers (referred to as 'also qualified') will be selected and can run on race day in the event of a late injury or 'scratch' of one of the starting field.
THE KENTUCKY DERBY QUALIFICATION PROCESS
The Kentucky Derby moved to a revamped qualification process a couple of years ago. It's important not only intrinsically but has had some ramifications on how the handicapper should approach their Kentucky Derby bets. Until recently, race eligibility was determined by lifetime graded stakes earnings. If more than 20 horses wanted to race in the Derby the twenty highest lifetime earnings made the cut. The new system is more regimented points system which in theory makes for a stronger competitive field in the Kentucky Derby but also allows horses to get in with fewer career starts. Horses are awarded points for their performance in designated Kentucky Derby prep races. A win in a major prep race like the Arkansas Derby or Santa Anita Derby earns 100 points and assures qualification for the Kentucky Derby.
HANDICAPPING THE KENTUCKY DERBY 2016
At one point, a major factor in Kentucky Derby betting was the past performance record of the horses entered. A handicapper would look to see that a horse had a decent amount of racing experience as a two year old followed by increasingly tougher challenges as a three year old ideally leading up to a strong performance in a major Kentucky Derby prep race. The new qualification system-along with changes in the overall philosophy about how to best develop young race horses-has completely invalidated that concept. In the past it would be extremely rare to see a serious Kentucky Derby contender with fewer than a half dozen career starts. This year the majority of the field will enter the race with less than six career starts and some with as few as three or four. It is very important to look at 2016 Kentucky Derby odds when placing bets. The better the odds, the more money you'll be able to win when you wager on your favorite horse.
TACTICAL HANDICAPPING IS NOW MORE IMPORTANT
Since the past performances of horses has been made less significant to the handicapper one strategy to be successful at 2016 Kentucky Derby betting could be a greater emphasis on tactical consideration. Post position, for example, is an important consideration when looking to get some action in at a sportsbook for online Kentucky Derby betting. Obviously post position number 1 is an advantage relative to the outer ones, but it hasn't been a strong edge over the other inside positions. Twelve Derby winners have had the #1 position going into the race (the most of any position) but position #5 has also produced 12 winners. Note that the last horse to win from the rail (#1) was Ferdinand in 1986. Positions #4,8,10 have produced ten winners each. In terms of percentages, positions #1 through #5 have yielded 49 winners. On the other hand, the outermost positions (#11 through #20) have had just 24 winners but have produced the last three Derby winners. Until recently a horse had never won from the #19 post position until I'll Have Another did it in 2012. Keep in mind that the trend in the past decade or two has been toward larger fields in Kentucky Derby betting. Post position is more important relative to a horse's running style and the anticipated pace of the race than it is as an arbitrary number.
