The Triple Crown gets underway with the Kentucky Derby this weekend. It’s “the two most exciting minutes in sports,” as they famously say. It’s also a huge betting opportunity given the massive amount of inflows it receives. In this article, we’re going to lay out some of the best ways to profit off of 2023 Kentucky Derby betting so stick with us!
- What: 2023 Kentucky Derby
- Where: Churchill Downs
- When: May 6, 2023
2023 Kentucky Derby Preview
If you’re a tried-and-true horse-race bettor, you already know the deal with the Derby. However, this event draws a lot of casual fans so we’re going to quickly preview what lies ahead at the Kentucky Derby.
This year marks the 149th annual event — it’s run every single year since 1875. The track is one mile long, but the race itself is just slightly more at 1.25 miles so the horses run a tad more than one full lap. Rain is sometimes a hazard to look out for, and current weather forecasts give it a 24% chance of water coming down that day.
A year ago, Rich Strike pulled off one of the biggest Derby upsets in history. The horse was an 80-1 (+8000) longshot before winning. The horse was a late entrant after another scratched out and before the Derby, Rich Strike had just one career win. Based on the odds alone, it was the second-biggest upset in the race’s history — second only to Donerail in 1913.
We mention Rich Strike because it’s not unthinkable to believe any other upset could be on tap Saturday. We mean, just look at the Kentucky Derby odds. Across the most popular horse race betting sites, the lines are pretty wide-open:
| Horse |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forte | +330 | +330 | +330 |
| Tapit Trice | +550 | +550 | +550 |
| Angel of Empire | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Practical Move | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Derma Sotogake | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Kingsbarns | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Mage | +1500 | +1500 | +1500 |
| Verifying | +1500 | +1500 | +1500 |
| Two Phil's | +1500 | +1500 | +1500 |
The comfortable betting favorites are Forte and Tapit Trice, as they should be. Forte is a winner of five in a row, including the Florida Derby. Then there’s Trapit Trice. He’s won his last four, most recently at the Blue Grass Stakes under a month ago. Neither are bad bets, but there’s one other horse we’re eyeing with a bet instead — and that horse has way more betting value. We’ll explain below.
Kentucky Derby Betting Advice
Alright, we know this is what you came for so let’s jump into our actually Kentucky Derby betting advice. A race like this commands more than just one bet, so we have some different pieces of advice below:
Race-Winner Bet
Of course, this is the most straightforward bet, albeit hard to hit given the unpredictability of this sport. Still, when analyzing the field, we kept coming back to Mage. At +1200, this horse is not a favorite, but not a longshot either — a perfect mid-value play.
But beyond the odds, we just think this horse is qualified to win. Mage is the birth child of two former racing horses — Good Magic and Magical Dream. Admittedly, the horse isn’t experienced as others in the competition. Mage has only three career races to its name but impressed mightily in each. Two of those races ended in wins, another in runner-up. The runner-up finish was at the aforementioned Florida Derby that Forte won. But here’s the thing, Mage lost that event down the stretch in the final strides.
But here’s why we really love Mage: the horse has a tendency to start out strong. That’s almost a prerequisite to winning at the Derby. Once we realized that, we locked in this bet. Mage is quite literally born to win this event so put money down on him.
Top-5 Bet
Here’s a Kentucky Derby prop worth looking into. As we said, picking the single winner of the whole grid isn’t easy by any stretch. But picking a horse to get in the top-5? That’s more realistic, though the payouts are smaller — unless you can pick a dark horse, which is our goal here.
That dark horse is Skinner, who is +300 to place top-5. Like Mage, Skinner is the perfect offspring. His father (or sine in horse-breeding terms) is former Preakness winner, Curlin. That same horse has birthed an array of standout thoroughbreds — Derby runner-up Exaggerator, Belmont winner Palace Malice, and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Vino Rosso, among many others. The gene pool is indeed strong with Skinner, certainly enough to stick with the top contenders on Saturday.
How To Bet On 2023 Kentucky Derby?
Kentucky Derby betting is seriously something else. There’s a litany of bets available on the race beyond the two we covered and as the nickname hints, it’s all decided in two minutes. If you want to get in on the action (which you should if you’ve read this far), we’d start with the list of bookies below. These sites all have dedicated racebooks as detailed in our latest sportsbook reviews.
Moreover, each offers a lucrative sportsbook bonus of some kind. The best deals each site has available are listed below, but as you can see, offers range from $500 to $2500 in free play. Pick any one and your Kentucky Derby bets could come free of cost.
