Sleepers In Kentucky Derby
And even though the post-time favorite has come out on top at the Derby six consecutive years now, this 2019 Derby is surprisingly up for grabs. So what are the best 2019 Kentucky Derby sleepers to bank on? 2019 Kentucky Derby – Saturday, May 4 th When: Post Time 6:50 pm ET. Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky. Stream: NBC Sports. The 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby is coming up, with a 20-horse field lining up to go 1 ¼ miles on the first Saturday of May at historic Churchill No Shortage of Live Longshots in Kentucky Derby Sleeper Picks Odds Shark.
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- Sleepers In Kentucky Derby 2019 Results
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The 2017 running of the Kentucky Derby is less than a month away now, so it’s time to start breaking down the field. You’ll know the favorites and frontrunners once the final field is set, but what about some potential underdogs?
People will obviously flock to bet on the favorites, but the favorites have a checkered past when it comes to success at the Derby. Since 1920, the odds-on favorite has only won the Kentucky Derby about ⅓ of the time. So, nailing that potential sleeper pick could afford you a massive payout if you play your cards right.
The full field has yet to be finalized, but we do know a few of the horses that are (or likely will be) a part of the race. Who are some names to watch?
Irap (25-1)
Irap is the spawn of Hall-of-Famer Tiznow and shares a bloodline with Man o’ War, who won two-thirds of the Triple Crown races back in 1920. So, the pedigree is certainly there. He earned his spot in the Kentucky Derby by overcoming long odds to win the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland last weekend.
Despite being a 33-1 longshot, the second-lowest odds of any horse in the field, Irap led almost the entire way and held off a late charge from Practical Joke to take the top spot. Early Derby favorite McCracken, who entered this race with 8-5 odds, finished a fairly distant third.
The top-four finishers in the race (Irap, Practical Joke, McCracken, J Boys Echo) all now have enough points to qualify for the Derby. This was Irap’s first victory in seven career starts, though he had finished in second place on three other occasions. Prior to winning the Blue Grass, Irap took fourth at the Sunland Derby in New Mexico.
Irap, just two-years old, will be one of the youngest horses in the field for the Derby. Of course, the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes hasn’t had a ton of success at the Kentucky Derby in recent years. Due to the relative drought, the Blue Grass recently had its class downgraded from Grade-1 to Grade-2 last December.
Street Sense was the last horse to win the Kentucky Derby immediately after competing at Blue Grass in 2007. No horse has won both races in the same year since Strike the Gold way back in 1991. That’s obviously no reason to write-off Irap, but it is an interesting little historical tidbit.
By all accounts, the Blue Grass was a strange one. McCracken looked lackluster after a lengthy layoff, and Tapwrit was never able to recover from a sluggish start out of the gates. Irap was the beneficiary of some good luck, but sometimes all you need is luck. He’ll go into this thing as a longshot, but we just saw him out-race several of the horses many believe will fare well at the Derby.
Gormley (16-1)
Gormley wound up winning the Santa Anita Derby, surely aided by the absence of favorite Mastery, who was forced to miss the race with an ankle injury. He ran a strong overall race and overcame late challenges from other legitimate contenders in Battle of Midway and Royal Mo.
Both Gormley and Royal Mo are trained by John Shirreffs and owned by Jerry and Ann Moss. This combination has had some major success in the past, as they helped longshot Giacomo (50-1) win the Kentucky Derby back in 2005. The Moss family and Shirreffs also owned and trained Zenyatta, who won 19 consecutive races in the midst of a 20-race career.
Gormley’s 100 points at Santa Anita secured his spot in the Derby in early May. He also may have quite the experienced jockey, which can certainly be advantageous. Victor Espinoza, one of the most decorated jockeys going today, will likely be atop Gormley once again at Churchill Downs. Espinoza has won the Kentucky Derby three times (War Emblem in 2002, California Chrome in 2014, American Pharoah in 2015) and won the Triple Crown with American Pharoah.
While Gormley did take the top spot at Santa Anita, he may need to improve his performance if he hopes to succeed at the Kentucky Derby. His finish time (1:51:16) was the slowest for a winner at Santa Anita in 60 years. It’s also worth noting that each of the last three Derby winners were based in Southern California, as Gormley is.
Gormley will enter the Derby with some serious momentum, having taken first place in four of his six starts to this point.
Kentucky Derby Results
Royal Mo (40-1)
As mentioned above, Royal Mo finished third in a hard-fought Santa Anita Derby behind Gormley and Battle of Midway. Royal Mo also happens to share the same owner/trainer combination as Gormley, which certainly bodes well for his chances of enjoying some success in the future.
Royal Mo earned a victory with Espinoza on top at the Robert B. Lewis stakes by 3 ½ lengths back in February. He’s still young and fairly inexperienced, but having solid training and a veteran jockey could help. If Espinoza chooses Royal Mo over Gormley for the Derby, we like Mo’s prospects all the better.
We mentioned this previously, but picking horses isn’t really an exact science. An awful lot can go wrong, and all it takes is a bit of luck for an underdog like Royal Mo to rise to the top. If some of the frontrunners like McCracken, Irish War Cry or Always Dreaming either get off to sluggish starts or just don’t have it on Derby day, an opportunistic horse can seize that chance.
Sleepers In Kentucky Derby 2019 Results
Royal Mo has gone wire-to-wire in two of his wins, so he clearly has the speed necessary to compete with the best. He also showed good fight in a previous race at Santa Anita in November, falling back 13 lengths early before rallying to take second place.
Sleeper Kentucky Derby
So, he has both the speed to just beat everyone outright as well as the will to battle back from an early setback. He also has a good pedigree, as he’s the son of Uncle Mo, who also spawned 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.