How to Bet on the 2018 Kentucky Derby & Expert Picks

For the casual sports betting enthusiast, horse racing may be an event that you only wager on a few times a year, but one of those is likely to be the Kentucky Derby, which is set for Saturday night from Churchill Downs. Coverage begins at 11am Eastern time on NBC Sports, with the undercard, and then pre-race coverage moves to NBC at 2:30pm Eastern, with the race itself set for 6:34pm. Take a look at our advice about how to bet on the race — particularly if you’re new to betting or if you don’t bet on horse racing frequently.

How to Bet on the 2018 Kentucky Derby & Expert Picks

Horse racing wagers are placed on a parimutuel system, which differs slightly from wagering on other sporting events against a point spread or a moneyline. In horse racing, you aren’t betting against the house or against a book, but instead against other bettors, and the house simply takes a cut off the top. Also, the odds are not fixed when you make the bet. Here is a list of post positions and odds for each horse in the race. The early co-favorites were Mendelssohn, Magnum Moon and Bolt d’Oro, but Justify emerged as a favorite as wagering got underway. There does not appear to be a clear-cut favorite, which could open the door for a dark-horse winner to bring in big odds. Post                                                    Horse                                                  Odds 1                                                          Firenze Fire                                                 50/1 2                                                          Free Drop Billy                                          30/1 3                                                          Promises Fulfilled                                     30/1 4                                                          Flameaway                                                  30/1 5                                                          Audible                                                          8/1 6                                                          Good Magic                                                  12/1 7                                                          Justify                                                             3/1 8                                                          Lone Sailor                                                   50/1 9                                                          Hofburg                                                         20/1 10                                                        My Boy Jack                                                  30/1 11                                                        Bolt d’Oro                                                        8/1 12                                                        Enticed                                                            30/1 13                                                        Bravazo                                                            50/1 14                                                        Mendelssohn                                                    5/1 15                                                        Instilled Regard                                              50/1 16                                                        Magnum Moon                                                6/1 17                                                        Solomini                                                           30/1 18                                                        Vino Rosso                                                        12/1 19                                                        Noble Indy                                                        30/1 20                                                        Combatant                                                        50/1  

How do post positions work?

The numbers are drawn by lot, and position #1 is on the very inside of the track, and #20 is on the very outside. Some positions are better than others — and no one wants #17, because in the 143 previous runnings of the race, no horse has won out of that position. Being on the inside can be a disadvantage as well, because the horses from the outside are pushing hard to beat inside horses to the rail, which can lead to the crowd swallowing up those steeds. While eight horses have won from position #1, none have done it since 1986, when Ferdinand beat the rest of the field. But it’s been even longer for a horse in position #2 — and that was the great Affirmed in 1978. Last year’s winner (Always Dreaming) came out of the #5 position, and 10 horses have won since 1930 out of the 5-slot — more than any other slot over that time frame. Audible sits at 8/1 odds in that slot, so he’s definitely one to consider.

So how do you place a bet?

If you’re at a window, either at Churchill Downs or a local track that shows the race on simulcast, you indicate the name of the track, the number race you are betting, the amount of your wager, the type of wager, and the numbers (by post position) of the horses you want to bet on. There are many ways to bet on horse races. You can pick a horse to “win, place or show,” which means 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, respectively. If your horse wins, you get the posted odds for that horse. The payout is less if that horse comes in second (place) or third (show). You can also place an “across the board” bet on a horse, that it will win, place and show. If the horse wins, you get all three bets; you get two wins if it finishes second; if it finishes third, you still win the bet for “show.” There are also some combo bets that allow you to pick an exact finishing order. The exacta, you’re picking the first- and second-place horses. A trifecta adds the third-place horse to that bet, and a superfecta adds the fourth-place horse. You can “box” any of those bets, which means (for example) if you box a trifecta with Audible, Magnum Moon and Justify, as long as those three horses finish in the top three, you win, no matter what the order.