'All Others' Strong Choice Over Shanghai Bobby, Violence in Derby Futures Pool 1

Feb 06, 2013 John Asher

Champion Shanghai Bobby (#17) and rising star Violence (#21) are expected to vie for the role of individual favorite, but Churchill Downs Racetrack oddsmaker Mike Battaglia believes the “All Others” (#24) betting interest will be a strong fans’ choice in the first of three pools of the 2013 Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”), which opens a three-day run on Friday, Feb. 8.

Also known as the mutuel field, “All Others” includes all 3-year-old Thoroughbreds other than the 23 individual horses listed among Pool 1’s 24 betting interests. Battaglia installed ‘All Others” as the 9-5 favorite in his morning line odds for 2013’s first KDFW pool, which will open at noon (all times Eastern) on Friday and conclude at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10.

The Kentucky Derby Future Wager offers racing fans an opportunity to bet on potential contenders for the famed “Run for the Roses” well in advance of the race at odds that could be significantly more attractive than the prices available Kentucky Derby Day. The $2 million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I) will be run for the 139^th consecutive year at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 4.

The popular “All Others” bet has been the Pool 1 favorite in each of the 14 years since the Derby Future bet was introduced in 1999.

“It’s normal and logical for ‘All Others’ to be favored in the opening pool of the Derby Future Wager, but it’s rare for me to set its morning line odds so low,” said Battaglia, who has established morning line odds for Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby since 1975. “No individual horse has really grabbed the attention of Derby fans, and while several lightly-raced horses have been impressive, they are question marks in terms of experience.  It will be fun to shop for attractive prices on individual horses, but most fans figure to find their way back to the mutuel field before the pool closes.”

Each Kentucky Derby Future pool offers $2 minimum win betting and exacta wagering, which is available in the form of $2 minimum straight exacta bets or $1-minimum exacta boxes and part-wheels. No scratches or betting refunds are permitted in the Derby Future Wager, but betting on an individual horse will be suspended immediately if Churchill Downs determines that an injury, illness or other circumstance revealed during the pool would prevent that horse from competing in the Kentucky Derby.

Shanghai Bobby, who was voted 2-year-old champion of 2012 after a perfect four-race campaign capped by a victory in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) at Santa Anita, and CashCall Futurity (GI) winner Violence are co-second choices on the morning line at odds of 12-1.   

Both are trained by Todd Pletcher, who saddled Super Saver to win the 2010 Kentucky Derby and is the trainer of seven of the 23 individual horses on the KDFW Pool 1 betting roster. The other Pletcher-trained horses are Remsen (GII) and Belmont Futurity (GII) winner Overanalyze (#14, 15-1); Withers (GIII) winner Revolutionary (#16, 20-1); unbeaten Verrazano (#20, 15-1); Breeders’ Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Capo Bastone (#1, 30-1) and Delhomme (#3, 30-1), third in the Remsen.

Three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert is represented by four KDFW Pool betting interests headed by Flashback (#7, 15-1), the unbeaten winner of the Robert B. Lewis (GII) at Santa Anita.  Baffert’s other Pool 1 horses are Den’s Legacy (#4, 30-1), winner of the Generous (GIII) on turf and runner-up in the Lewis and the Sham; Hollywood Preview runner-up Super Ninety Nine (#18, 20-1) and Code West (#2, 50-1).

Other trainers with multiple KDFW Pool 1 horses are Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Doug O’Neill and Mark Casse, each of whom trains a pair of betting interests.

Lukas, a four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, trains Lecomte (GIII) winner Oxbow (#15, 20-1) and Will Take Charge (#23, 30-1), the winner of the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.  O’Neill, who saddled Reddam Racing LLC’s  I’ll Have Another to win the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness (GI), conditions Sham (GIII) and Delta Downs Jackpot (GIII) winner Goldencents (#9, 20-1) and Reddam’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up He’s Had Enough (#10, 50-1). The Casse trainees are Uncaptured (#19, 20-1), winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) and Iroquois (GIII) at Churchill Downs, and Dynamic Sky (#5, 30-1), runner-up in Keeneland's Dixiana Breeders' Futurity (GI) and the Sam F. Davis (GIII) at Tampa Bay Downs.

Other horses expected to attracted solid support in KDFW Pool 1 include trainer Ed Plesa Jr.’s Itsmyluckyday (#11, 15-1), who handed Shanghai Bobby his only loss in the Holy Bull (GIII) at Gulfstream Park; Normandy Invasion (#13, 20-1), a late-charging runner-up in the Remsen for trainer Chad Brown; and unbeaten Vyjack (#22, 20-1), the Rudy Rodriguez-trained winner of Aqueduct's Jerome (GII) in his most recent start.

The Kentucky Derby Future Wager is coming off one of its most successful years with a combined $1,470,019 wagered in its trio of 2012 pools. The 2012 betting total was the fourth largest in KDFW history and reflected a wagering increase of 7.9% over the 2011 three-pool total of $1,362,101.

The overall total was the largest since the wager shifted to its current three-day, Friday-through-Sunday format in 2010. KDFW pools had been four-day events prior to that change.

I’ll Have Another’s win in the 2012 Kentucky Derby resulted in KDFW $2 win payouts of $60.20 in Pool 1, $46.20 in Pool 2 and $45.60 in the third and final pool. A $2 Derby Day win wager on I’ll Have Another returned $32.60.

Exacta payouts on the I’ll Have Another-Bodemeister 1-2 finish in Derby 138 returned $306.60 on Derby Day, while the KDFW exacta returned $257.80 on Pool 1 (a 13-24 exacta in which Bodemeister was a member of the “All Others” mutuel field), $1,661 in Pool 2 (12-3) and $1,351.40 in Pool 3 (10-2).

The field for Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2 was selected by a panel of journalists and racing officials that included Brad Free and Mike Watchmaker of Daily Racing Form, Ed DeRosa of BRISNET and Churchill Downs’ John Asher. 

Information on the Kentucky Derby is available online at the official event Web site at www.KentuckyDerby.com and KDFW real-time odds will be presented on that site throughout each 2013 three-day pool.

Churchill Downs, the world’s most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875. Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ: CHDN) also operates Trackside at Churchill Downs, which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 4, 2013 and its 2013 Spring Meet is scheduled for April 27-June 30. The track has hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships a record eight times. Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at www.ChurchillDowns.com.

KENTUCKY DERBY FUTURE WAGER 2013 Pool 1

Morning Line odds by Mike Battaglia

# Wagering Interest     ML Odds

1. Capo Bastone -- 30-1    

2. Code West -- 50-1

3. Delhomme -- 30-1

4. Den’s Legacy -- 30-1

5. Dynamic Sky -- 30-1

6. Falling Sky -- 30-1

7. Flashback -15-1

8. Frac Daddy -- 50-1

9. Goldencents -- 20-1

10. He’s Had Enough -- 50-1

11. Itsmyluckyday -- 15-1

12. Mylute -- 30-1

13. Normandy Invasion -- 20-1

14. Overanalyze -- 15-1

15. Oxbow -- 20-1

16. Revolutionary -- 20-1

17. Shanghai Bobby  -- 12-1

18. Super Ninety Nine -- 20-1

19. Uncaptured -- 20-1

20. Verrazano -- 15-1

21. Violence -- 12-1    

22. Vyjack (g) -- 20-1

23. Will Take Charge -- 30-1

24. All Others -- 9-5

(g) -- gelding