Using Running Styles To Handicap Your Kentucky Derby Bets

Posted by Eric Williams on Thursday,May 4, 2017 9:45, EDT in

With the quickly approaching 2017 Kentucky Derby, you may be looking for ways to identify possible winners of the annual Run for the Roses, then one of the very best ways to do that is by analyzing the respective running styles of each thoroughbred. Find the latest horse racing betting odds here.

Using Running Styles To Handicap Your Kentucky Derby Bets

 

 

You see, when it comes to winning the most prestigious thoroughbred horse race in the United States there are some age-old ‘facts’ surrounding the derby, even if they aren’t a much of a fact as some believe they are. Fact No. 1 says that pacesetters and closer rarely win the Kentucky Derby, but that clearly isn’t always the case a 32 thoroughbreds have gone gate-to-wire to win the derby.

However, there is also some truth to the age-old belief that horses that get out of the gate too quickly don’t have as good a chance of winning as a mount that is in the middle of the pack at the first call (1/4 mile mark). This millennia, only War Emblem has been able to maintain the lead from the 1/4 mile mark while Go for Gin is the only other derby winner to grab and keep the lead by the 1/2 mile mark.

A far as closers winning the Kentucky Derby is concerned, in the last 27 races dating back to 1990, only eight winners (29.6%) have been able to come back from more than 10 lengths behind the leader at the 1/2 mile mark while 11 others (40.7%) came back from than eight lengths behind at the same point. That figures dips dramatically to just 6 (22.2%) winning after being eight or more lengths behind the leader at the 3/4 mile mark.

In essence, stalkers (horses that are just off the lead) look like the best bets to win the Kentucky Derby. Simply find the best stalkers in the 2017 derby that you can and ride one or two of them for the win!