2024 Kentucky Derby Futures Pool Opens Before Breeders’ Cup
Here comes the early-bird world of Kentucky Derby odds. Gamblers have three days to take their first 2024 Derby positions at potentially tremendous betting value if your pick can get into the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. Pool 1 for 2024 Kentucky Derby futures is set for its three-day run Tuesday through Thursday, before Future Stars Friday at the Breeders’ Cup.
Wagering begins Tuesday at noon ET and closes Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. Like previous years, bettors can make $2 Win and Exacta bets. You can access the pool through FanDuel Racing. New users will also get a $100 No Sweat Bet to use on any race in the country! Just click PLAY NOW to get started.
Morning Line Odds: 2024 Kentucky Derby Futures Pool 1
Click on the odds to bet now.
| Number | Horse | Morning Line Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agate Road | 99-1 |
| 2 | Agoo | 99-1 |
| 3 | Air of Defiance | 60-1 |
| 4 | Balta | 99-1 |
| 5 | Be You | 99-1 |
| 6 | Bentornato | 99-1 |
| 7 | Bergen | 99-1 |
| 8 | Billal | 99-1 |
| 9 | Booth | 60-1 |
| 10 | Catching Freedom | 99-1 |
| 11 | Dancing Groom | 99-1 |
| 12 | Dom. Product | 99-1 |
| 13 | Dornoch | 60-1 |
| 14 | Drum Roll Please | 99-1 |
| 15 | Fierceness | 99-1 |
| 16 | General Partner | 80-1 |
| 17 | Generous Tipper | 80-1 |
| 18 | Glengarry | 99-1 |
| 19 | Informed Patriot | 99-1 |
| 20 | Liberal Arts | 60-1 |
| 21 | Lightline | 99-1 |
| 22 | Locked | 15-1 |
| 23 | Moonlight | 80-1 |
| 24 | Nash | 99-1 |
| 25 | Normandy Hero | 99-1 |
| 26 | Otto the Conqueror | 99-1 |
| 27 | Noted | 99-1 |
| 28 | Nutella Fella | 99-1 |
| 29 | Private Deisre | 50-1 |
| 30 | Raging Torrent | 99-1 |
| 31 | Risk It | 99-1 |
| 32 | Rocketeer | 99-1 |
| 33 | Seize the Grey | 99-1 |
| 34 | Stretch Ride | 50-1 |
| 35 | Stronghold | 99-1 |
| 36 | The Wine Steward | 30-1 |
| 37 | Tmberlake | 20-1 |
| 38 | West Saratoga | 80-1 |
| 39 | All Others, Fillies | 80-1 |
| 40 | All Others, Colts & Geldings | 3-5 |
More Kentucky Derby Futures Pools To Come
This is the first of six Kentucky Derby Futures Pools, before the 2024 Run for the Roses on May 4. This year will mark the 150th running of the race.
Here’s the complete futures pool schedule:
- Oct. 31-Nov. 2 (Pool 1)
- Nov. 23-26 (Pool 2)
- Jan. 19-21 (Pool 3)
- Feb. 16-18 (Pool 4)
- March 15-17 (Pool 5)
- April 4-6 (Pool 6).
The Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager, which debuted in 2015 and requires bettors to wager on the winning sire for next year’s Kentucky Derby winner, will be held concurrently with Pool 2. The lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will coincide with Kentucky Derby Futures Pool 5.
Betting Highlights For Pool 1
There are 40 betting interests, with the “All Other Colts and Geldings from the 2021 Foal Crop,” an essential field bet, ranked as the 3-5 morning line favorite.
Otherwise, there are prices galore. Many entries have 99-1 odds because horses have not established themselves on the 2-year-old circuit.
Even those who have run well sport good betting odds if they were to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
Locked and Timberlake, the individual favorites, are a respective 15-1 and 20-1 for the Kentucky Derby. Should either win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday at Santa Anita, his Kentucky Derby odds will drop. Locked has a 96 Beyer speed figure at 1 mile, which makes him a contender in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile.
Gamblers looking for an edge have several angles to consider. One is head-to-head matchups. Locked and Wine Steward battled to the wire in the Breeders’ Cup Futurity before Locked, at 3-5, nudged him. They stage a rematch in the Juvenile. Wine Steward is a 30-1 Derby price right now. If one projects improvement for him, this is a potentially great payoff.
Another futures angle is to consider training pedigree. Brad Cox trains eight betting interests in Pool 1: Air of Defiance (60-1); Bergen (99-1); Catching Freedom (99-1); Drum Roll Please (99-1); Lightline (99-1); Nash (99-1); Rocketeer (99-1) and Timberlake (20-1).
A third angle concerns taking a flier on little-known horses who have yet to stretch out to championship distances. This is the improvement projection. As results replace those projections, prices will drop. But there is no news to drive these odds down right now.
A hunch can be worth a bunch. It’s value hunting season, even with the risks tied in.
Kentucky Derby Futures: Pool 1 Betting Strategy Considerations
Some gamblers sprinkle money across several longshots because of the tradeoff on great Futures prices. Unlike a wager on an MLB or NFL game that gets canceled if your team/player doesn’t play, these bets are non-refundable. You are betting that the horse both gets into the Kentucky Derby and wins it.
That’s why treating the pool like a prop bet rather than a significant slam is a good idea for some.
If one’s Derby horse doesn’t make the Churchill Downs starting line, the bet loses. That’s been happening more recently as a trainer may take a horse out of the spring Kentucky Derby circuit and resurface in the fall Breeders’ Cup.
That occurred with Arabian Knight, the 3-1 favorite for Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was among the hottest horses in the country after capturing his first two races. But trainers did not like his workout pattern and took him off the 3-year-old circuit early in 2023.
No Run for the Roses for him, nor refund for Kentucky Derby Futures bettors. This is the angle bettors can’t predict. They can mitigate that by knowing they don’t have to bet much to make much at these odds.
The Longshot Allure
Some horses barely on the radar today will run big in the Spring. That’s why bettors love to play this pool. It’s the dream of buying a $5 stock that goes to $100.
Consider Hot Rod Charlie and Essential Quality thundering down the homestretch of the 2021 Belmont Stakes. Essential Quality beat him, and the $2 exacta box paid $15. Six months earlier, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the same result happened. But that exacta paid $599.80 because Hot Rod Charlie was a whopping 94-1.
Yes, he was a bomb price once. But never again after the Breeders’ Cup. The Juvenile looms again on Friday. Prices will change after that race. But there are great values out there, right now.
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