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. Maximum Security (9-1). Maximum Security isn’t your traditional sleeper. He has been listed among. Expert Picks at the Kentucky Derby. The 2021 Kentucky Derby is the 147th renewal of The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports. Live odds, betting, horse bios, travel info, tickets, news, and updates from Churchill Downs Race Track. Kentucky Derby Sleepers. By: Aaron Halterman. Published on February 17th, 2012. Over the past two weeks DRF.com has given you two “sleepers” for the Kentucky Derby, but the two horses they have given out are really not sleepers at all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- You don't have to watch golf every weekend to love The Masters. You don't have to be an odds enthusiast who lives at the betting window to love the Kentucky Derby. And you sure don't have to be an auto racing fan to appreciate the Daytona 500, NASCAR's premiere event.
The first real race day of 2021 has finally arrived, as the green flag is scheduled to drop on the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 around 2:30 p.m. ET. Even if you never watch auto racing, this race -- which marks the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death at the track -- should still be considered a must-see.
So, what do you need to know before Sunday's 500-mile, 200-lap, 200 mph event? Here's a cheat sheet you can keep on your phone to read fascinating fast facts aloud to your family and make them think you're the second coming of Fireball Roberts. It's broken down into sections of three, because that makes it easier to remember, and because this is Daytona and, well ... EAAARNNNHARDTTT!
Three storylines to watch
Denny Hamlin and history. For those of us who exist in a more seasoned age demographic, it's hard to believe it's been a decade and a half since Hamlin showed up for his first Daytona Speedweeks and promptly shocked the racing world by winning the Budweiser Shootout (now the Busch Clash) all-star race. But over the past five years, he has become a bona fide Daytona legend, winning three of the past five editions of the Great American Race, including the past two in a row. If he wheels his No. 11 FedEx Toyota into Victory Lane again on Sunday, he will become the first driver to win NASCAR's biggest race three years in a row and move into a tie for second place in all-time 500 wins, while also tying Cale Yarborough with four Daytona wins.
Hamlin's other team and history. Hamlin is also entered in this year's race as a team owner. This year's Daytona 500 will be the maiden voyage for the No. 23 Toyota of new 23XI Racing, co-owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan. How'd that happen? Hamlin is to the Charlotte Hornets what Jack Nicholson is to the Los Angeles Lakers or Spike Lee to the New York Knicks, the constant courtside presence. He had been bugging Jordan for years to get involved in NASCAR, so why now? Because Bubba Wallace was available to hire as a driver. Now Wallace, who finished second in the 2018 Daytona 500 (his first career 500 start), is attempting to become the first Black driver to win a Cup race since 1963 and the first driver to win the Great American Race in a from-scratch race team. For more Hamlin, Bubba and MJ, read this story from Saturday.
Kyle Busch finally undoing history. The driver they call Rowdy has won at least once on every current Cup Series racetrack (not counting the still-new Charlotte and Daytona rovals) and with 213 wins across NASCAR's three national series, he has a trophy from every significant event on every stock car schedule ... except for the biggest one of them all. Busch is 0-for-15 in the Daytona 500 and is now approaching the February frustration level of a long list of men whom he will join one day in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, from Dale Earnhardt (won on his 20th try) and Darrell Waltrip (won on his 17th try) to Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart, who won a combined 166 races and six Cup titles, but who also combined to go 0-for-111 in the 500.
Three favorites to watch
Hamlin. Do we need to remind you about that whole won-three-of-the-past-five thing? And you don't have to take my word. Vegas has him at the top of its board at 8-1. (If you'd like to read more about Daytona 500 betting, check out this post from the ESPN Betting Insiders.)
Brad Keselowski. He has long been a great superspeedway racer with six victories between Daytona and Talladega, but he is 0-for-11 in the 500. Last year summed up his career in the Great American Race: He led the second-most laps behind Hamlin (30) but crashed out and finished 36th. This is the only jewel missing from BK's NASCAR Hall of Fame crown.
Ryan Blaney. Last year's Daytona 500 runner-up was one of the early favorites to fight for the 2020 Cup championship, but he faded by summer's end. Two of his four career wins have come at Talladega, and he looked strong in his Duel 150 qualifier Thursday night. Everyone agrees that Blaney is on the cusp of stardom, but he needs a signature win to finally start fulfilling that potential. This could be it.
The next three
Chase Elliott. The defending Cup champ has spent his career tripping over his own bumper in the 500, winning two poles and leading 69 laps, but never finishing higher than 14th, throwing in a couple of wrecks for good measure. But last fall in the regular-season cutoff race, he finished second to William Byron by .119 seconds. That effort helped boost the Son of Bill to his first Cup Series title.
Austin Dillon. People will always complain that Dillon drives the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevy because it was made famous by Dale Earnhardt. But Dillon (who was OK'd by Earnhardt himself as heir to the throne when Dillon was a kid) won the Daytona 500 in 2018, owns seven top-10s in 15 career Daytona oval starts, and did you see that move he made to beat Bubba Wallace at the line in Thursday night's second Duel 150 qualifier? It would be hard to find a better storyline than that car winning this race around the 20th anniversary of Earnhardt's death.
Kevin Harvick. Happy has been mighty quiet during these Speedweeks. After winning nine races but failing to make the Championship Four last fall, the 2007 Daytona 500 champ is more like Unhappy. And that usually means the rest of the field will end up being the unhappy ones.
Three sleepers not to sleep on
Sleepers In Kentucky Derby Results
Kyle Larson. After using a racial slur during a virtual race last April, Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing and suspended from the Cup Series for the majority of the 2020 season. He returns behind the wheel Sunday, this time at Hendrick Motorsports. The Big One seems to attract Larson like a magnet, but in his past two Daytona 500 starts with Chip Ganassi Racing, he finished seventh and 10th.
Chris Buescher. He has quietly finished in the top five twice over the past three years. He also owns five top-10s in 10 career Daytona oval starts, which is a quarter of his career top-10 finishes.
Kentucky Derby Picks
Ryan Newman. Buescher's Roush Fenway Racing teammate will forever be linked to the Daytona 500 via his horrifying finish line crash one year ago, which more people are likely to remember than his win in this race in 2008. But what few seem to recall about his '20 wreck is that he was in the lead and within sight of the checkered flag when it happened.
Three things to blurt out to impress your friends
'Isn't it great to see Pitbull involved in NASCAR?' Jordan isn't the only superstar who has decided to write big checks and go racing in 2021. Mr. Worldwide has joined the Trackhouse Racing Team as a co-owner and will be in Daytona on Sunday, not just to cheer on driver Daniel Suarez in the No. 99 Chevy, but also as the Daytona 500 grand marshal. This is no fluke involvement, either. The music artist has loved NASCAR since he watched 'Days of Thunder' as a kid, and years ago he purchased a stock car for his Miami charter school as a tool to teach science and math.
'You know, this is the last Daytona 500 for this particular generation of stock car.' OK, we totally told you to say this last year, too. But due to the pandemic-altered 2020 season, NASCAR wisely chose to postpone the introduction of its 'Next Gen' model of race car until 2022. The sanctioning body has been working with Chevy, Ford and Toyota to design a new stock car they promise will be cheaper to build, more brand-identifiable and, yes, racier. Teams tested the first iteration of the Next Gen car at multiple racetracks over the winter and early reactions were good ones.
'It is truly amazing what NASCAR has done to improve safety since Dale Earnhardt's death 20 years ago this week.' It has indeed been 20 years since The Intimidator died on the final lap of the Daytona 500, but thanks to the safety evolution that took place as a result of his death, no driver has been killed across NASCAR's top three national series since that awful day of Feb. 18, 2001. For more, you should check out our four-part series on Earnhardt's racing and safety legacies. Yes, we know that's a lot of reading to finish between now and the start of the 2021 Daytona 500. But looking at the weather radar, it unfortunately seems like you're going to have plenty of time.