Arkansas Derby Current Odds
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Exaggerator is looking for back-to-back wins.
Every year the Arkansas Derby is considered a major prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, and is usually the last most important race on the prep circuit. Three horses in Arkansas Derby history have also won the Kentucky Derby in the same year: Sunny’s Halo (1983), Smarty Jones (2004), and American Pharoah (2015). The Grade 1 Arkansas Derby is the highlight of the spring racing season at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is considered one of the most important prep races for horses vying for a spot in the Kentucky Derby and ultimately the Triple Crown. The Arkansas Derby betting odds are now available.
- Before the Arkansas Derby, tune into NBC from 3-6 p.m. ET for a special Kentucky Derby broadcast, which includes The First Saturday In May: American Pharoah’s Run to the Triple Crown, a look.
- Arkansas Derby Betting Odds: A look at the tougher second division Handicappers have more to chew on in the second division where Baffert also saddles unbeaten Nadal, the 5-2 favorite. Nadal stepped up from a sharp maiden win to capture the San Vicente (G2) as the 3-10 favorite.
- (Current Kentucky Derby points leaderboard). King Guillermo won the G2 Tampa Bay Derby at odds of 49-1 last out for Juan Carlos Avila. Who with five Arkansas Derby victories is the race's.
The 2020 Kentucky Derby may have been moved to September, but the first Saturday in May still features a prestigious race for the country's top three-year-olds. Interest in the 2020 Arkansas Derby was so large, in fact, that the race was split into two divisions of 11. Charlatan, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, is the even-money favorite in Division 1, according to the current 2020 Arkansas Derby odds. Nadal, also trained by Baffert, is the 5-2 favorite in Division 2.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday's card will be run without fans in the stands. Post time for Division 1 is 6:29 p.m. ET, while Division 2 follows two races later at 7:43 p.m. ET. With both divisions featuring large and accomplished fields, you'll want to see the horse racing predictions from handicapping champion Jonathon Kinchen before making any 2020 Arkansas Derby picks.
Kinchen is one of the nation's most successful and recognizable horseplayers. An analyst for Fox Sports' America's Day at the Races and co-host of the In the Money Players' Podcast, Kinchen won the National Horseplayers Championship Tour in 2015, a demanding, yearlong series of handicapping events across the country. That same year, he became the only player in history to have both of his entries qualify for the final table of the National Horseplayers Championship.
In addition, Kinchen has scored huge on some of racing's biggest days. At the 2015 Kentucky Derby, he cashed for $150,000 after nailing a Pick 6 and a cold Pick 3 that paid $50,000.
He's currently riding a hot streak on his horse racing picks for SportsLine. In the Fountain of Youth Stakes in February, Kinchen nailed an $80 win bet on Ete Indien that paid a healthy $344. In March in the Beholder Mile, he gave out a $50 exacta that paid 11x. On April 2, he hit the late Pick 4 at Oaklawn Park.
On April 11, he crushed the Oaklawn Stakes, giving out a $5 exacta that paid a whopping $1,338. Three days later, he hit the Pick 4 once again, this time at Will Rogers Downs, for $649.60. In the Apple Blossom Handicap, he nailed a $25 win bet on Ce Ce, which paid $245. On April 22, he hit the late PIck 4 at Will Rogers again, and on April 24, he won $687 after hitting the late Pick 4 at Oaklawn.
Now, Kinchen has handicapped the 2020 Arkansas Derby horses, made his picks and formulated his bets. Head to SportsLine now to see his picks.
Top 2020 Arkansas Derby predictions
One shocker: Kinchen is completely fading Anneau d'Or, even though he's one of the top favorites at 6-1 in Division 1. In fact, Kinchen says Anneau d'Or doesn't even hit the board. This son of Medaglia d'Oro has one win and two runner-up finishes in four career starts. He is coming off a ninth-place finish on Feb. 15 in a division of the Risen Star Stakes, his only start of 2020.
He is best known for losing by only a head in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile at 28-1 odds. 'However, that race has proven to be a dud,' Kinchen told SportsLine. Kinchen will not have Anneau d'Or on any of his tickets. There are far better favorites in the 2020 Arkansas Derby lineup than the 6-1 premium he's commanding.
In Division 2, Kinchen is high on Wells Bayou, who's going off at 7-2. A son of Lookin At Lucky, Wells Bayou has three wins and one second in five career starts. He is coming off a gate-to-wire win in the Louisiana Derby.
Jockey Florent Geroux, who has wired a handful of Kentucky Derby preps this year, will be aboard again. In addition, 'Wells Bayou draws the outside post, which should force him to show speed early again,' Kinchen said.
How to make 2020 Arkansas Derby picks
Kinchen also loves a double-digit long shot who is primed to shock the horse racing world on Saturday. In addition, Kinchen is so confident in his top pick in one of the divisions that he told SportsLine, 'I can't envision a scenario in which he gets beat.' He's sharing which horse to back only at SportsLine.
So who wins each division of the Arkansas Derby 2020? And which double-digit long shot can win at a lucrative price? Check out the latest 2020 Arkansas Derby odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Kinchen's picks for the Arkansas Derby.
2020 Arkansas Derby odds
Division 1
Charlatan (1-1)
Gouverneur Morris (9-2)
Anneau d'Or (6-1)
Shooters Shoot (8-1)
Basin (8-1)
Winning Impression (15-1)
My Friends Beer (20-1)
Wrecking Crew (20-1)
Crypto Cash (20-1)
Mo Mosa (30-1)
Jungle Runner (30-1)
Division 2
Nadal (5-2)
King Guillermo (3-1)
Wells Bayou (7-2)
Storm the Court (6-1)
Silver Prospector (10-1)
Fast Enough (12-1)
Farmington Road (12-1)
Finnick the Fierce (15-1)
Taishan (15-1)
Saratogian (50-1)
Code Runner (50-1)
Arkansas Derby Betting Odds: Not Your Usual First Saturday in May
By Mike Farrell
The first Saturday in May arrives this weekend and the racing world turns its eyes toward … Hot Springs!
These are strange days, indeed.
Oaklawn Park will offer two $500,000 divisions of the Arkansas Derby (G1) in place of the traditional Run for the Roses.
As most fans know, the Kentucky Derby (G1) has been rescheduled for Sept. 5. On the traditional date of America’s greatest race, Churchill Downs will sit empty. But not idle.
Virtual Derby
Churchill has partnered with NBC for a “Kentucky Derby at Home” party. With three vacant hours normally devoted to Derby coverage, NBC will take a look back at American Pharoah’s Derby win and offer a computer simulation of a virtual race featuring the 13 Triple Crown winners.
Call me old school but I prefer my racing live, real and preferably in person. That’s not possible in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
What’s left after Oaklawn?
For now, we make do with the simulcasts available. That’s what makes this weekend so poignant. Yes, there will be a 3-year-old race on Saturday. Make that two, with the split divisions in Arkansas.
It is also closing day at Oaklawn, stripping away one of the marquee tracks that have sustained horseplayers during this national shutdown.
It would have been closing weekend at Tampa Bay Downs, but the meet has been extended through the end of May with racing three days a week.
What else is left? Gulfstream Park soldiers on as the top attraction buttressed by minor tracks like Fonner Park, Will Rogers Downs and a smattering of quarter horse and greyhound facilities.
It’s a lean landscape going forward, but hopefully help is on the way. Track managements, horsemen and owners have been lobbying hard to resume racing in New York, California and Kentucky.
They point to Gulfstream, Oaklawn and Tampa Bay as models that have operated safely without fans in the stands.
“We’ve got all the backside workers there and at least at Santa Anita and Oaklawn there weren’t any occurrences,” said Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing represented by Charlatan in the first Arkansas Derby division.
“These horses have got to keep training and hopefully have races. Of course, I’m biased and have a self-interest but the protocols that Churchill proposed as did Santa Anita are very scientific and hopefully very safe.”
Strange start for Arkansas Derby week
Arkansas In keeping with the bizarre nature of this weekend, Oaklawn had to redraw the Arkansas Derby field after the initial posts were assigned to the 22 entrants.
The purse, originally $1 million, was reduced to $750,000 when the race slated for April 11 was moved to May 2. With the split divisions, the total value returns to $1 million.
Both divisions will award the full 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points with 100 going to each winner.
The race lost a runner from each division Tuesday when Shooters Shoot was withdrawn from the first division and Fast Enough was withdrawn from the second division.
Trainer Peter Eurton said Shooters Shoot, an allowance winner most recently at Oaklawn, came down with a virus (not the corona) and was scratched.
Arkansas Derby Betting Odds: A look at the first easier first division
In looking at the field, the second division is clearly loaded with talent while the first spilt came up light.
How light, inquiring minds might ask? Charlatan, the even-money favorite, would probably have been excluded if the normal 14-horse maximum applied.
Arkansas Derby Current Odds Genesis Open
The stakes conditions gave preference to horses with the highest earnings. Charlatan has only banked $67,200 in his two dominant victories.
When the entries hit 20, the magic number needed to split the field, trainer Bob Baffert booked him on the flight from Santa Anita to Oaklawn.
Martin Garcia will be aboard the chestnut colt who posted a 10 ¼-length allowance victory in his latest outing.
It’s hard to make a strong case for the rest of the first division crew. Gouverneur Morris was a non-threatening fourth in the Florida Derby (G1).
Basin was the Grade 1 winner of the Hopeful at Saratoga last summer but his two races this year at Oaklawn in the Rebel (G2) and Oaklawn Stakes don’t inspire confidence. Anneau d’Or’s claim to fame was his near-miss at 20-1 in the wild-and-wacky Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Arkansas Derby Betting Odds: A look at the tougher second division
Handicappers have more to chew on in the second division where Baffert also saddles unbeaten Nadal, the 5-2 favorite.
Nadal stepped up from a sharp maiden win to capture the San Vicente (G2) as the 3-10 favorite. He then headed to Oaklawn where he gutted out a narrow pacesetting win in the Rebel (G2).
King Guillermo, the 3-1 second choice, figures to closely track Nadal. That close stalking trip style paid off with a victory in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2).
The overloaded second division also includes last season’s 2-year-old champion Storm the Court (6-1), two-time stakes winner Silver Prospector (10-1) and Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Wells Bayou (7-2).
It is not surprising the Arkansas Derby proved so popular at the entry box. As we move past this weekend, who knows when or where the next significant 3-year-old race takes place? It’s better to run them than keep them in the barn.
“It is a challenge,” Eurton said. “You don’t want to just keep training, training, training. It’s like being at a bus stop, and waiting for it to show up.”
Arkansas Derby Current Odds College Football
Arkansas Derby Betting Odds: Split Races No Match for 1 Kentucky Derby
By Ed McNamara
Arkansas Derby Current Odds College Bowl
If you love racing, Churchill Downs is where you want to be on the first Saturday in May. For the past 27 years, I was fortunate enough to be at the Downs covering the Kentucky Derby. If not for an invisible plague that no one could see coming, I would be there again.
Instead of flying to Louisville on Monday, I was at my kitchen table typing this column. A year ago, everybody was certain that nothing could ever top the unprecedented disqualification of Maximum Security for weirdness.
How little we know. No one could have imagined The World’s Most Legendary Racetrack would be empty on racing’s biggest day. Instead of entertaining the usual 160,000 or so revelers and tens of millions on worldwide television, it will be a ghost town this Saturday. So strange, so sad.
“While we are always respectful of the time-honored traditions of the Kentucky Derby, we are in the midst of an unprecedented year,” Churchill president Kevin Flanery said.
It’s exhilarating and exhausting to spend a week in a city where everything revolves around a two-minute horse race. I’ve covered many big events all over the world -– Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Hong Kong Cup -– and although they’re all great fun, there’s nothing quite like the Derby experience.
As Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944), The Sage of Paducah, Kentucky, wrote: “Until you go to Kentucky and with your own eyes behold the Derby, you ain’t never been nowhere and you ain’t seen nothin’!”
He got that right.
Arkansas Derby Live Odds
A pilgrimage to the Derby has to be on your bucket list, even if it’s the only race you watch. Forget the obscenely inflated prices for hotels and admission tickets — it’s still a trip worth taking. Unfortunately, I’ll be on my couch Saturday, playing Oaklawn Park’s card via cell phone.
Nadal – Photo Courtesy of Oaklawn Park
It will be fun to handicap and bet on the Arkansas Derby’s two divisions, featuring Bob Baffert-trained favorites Charlatan and Nadal, and if you’re seriously craving a Derby fix, NBC and Churchill will supply one.
From 3-6 p.m. ET, you can watch American Pharoah’s 2015 Derby, then see how he does in a computer-simulated race against the other 12 Triple Crown heroes. There also will be more virtual fun: an at-home Derby party, mint julep recipe and fashion tips. Well, better than nothing.
“Because of our national crisis, we and the entire world of sports are in uncharted waters requiring unprecedented actions,” Oaklawn president Louis Cella said.
“We’re trying to make the best of a very difficult situation. On the one hand, it is the worst of times to be racing without fans in our grandstand. On the other, we have a large number of exceptional 3-year-olds wanting to run in our Arkansas Derby.’’
Those distractions will pass the hours pleasantly, but there’s nothing like the real thing. I can tell you how my picks did in every Derby since 1982. I doubt whether Saturday’s results will resonate with me for long.
The 170 Derby qualifying points to be awarded for each Arkansas Derby division will not get my juices flowing. I hope we’ll see the Derby on Labor Day weekend, but there’s no guarantee that The New Abnormal will be over by then. And even if the big race is run on Sept. 5, I don’t believe it will feel or mean the same, no matter how it plays out.
Arkansas Derby Current Odds
I’m far from alone there. In an ongoing Paulick Report poll, 43.17 percent said they would have less esteem for the winner of a September Derby, with “no change” at 36.73 percent and “more esteem” at 20.10.
After the Arkansas Derby, the 3-year-old landscape is a blank. No one knows if or when the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes will be staged, or in what order.
Arkansas Derby Current Odds For Today
Flanery said Churchill plans to name more Derby preps over the next few months, yet until there are hard dates for the openings of Churchill, Pimlico, Belmont Park, Monmouth Park and Santa Anita, that can’t happen.
“Our Churchill Downs team is united in our commitment to holding the very best Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5,” Flanery said, “and it will certainly be one of the most memorable in our lifetimes.”
Well, maybe.
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