The 147th running of the Kentucky Derby is back in its traditional slot in May. The race for the Triple Crown begins this Saturday at Churchill Downs with Essential Quality as the 2-1 Morning Line favorite. King Fury, the 20-1 horse named after lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has been scratched with a fever.
Here is a breakdown of every horse in the Kentucky Derby field, suggested plays and picks.
Note: Horses, with morning-line odds, listed in order of post position.
Chris Fallica's guide to the field
1. Known Agenda 6-1
I'll start with the positive. If you like him, you'll get a much better price on him now that he drew the rail. He's run great in his two starts with blinkers, but I'm still not sold as one of the two races was a six-horse allowance where he was 3/5 and the other was a weak edition of the Florida Derby. Both were at Gulfstream and Todd Pletcher has a tendency to have his horses run bigger than usual there. He's finished behind Derby also-rans Hidden Stash and Brooklyn Strong outside of Gulfstream. Since Ferdinand won from the rail in 1986, only two horses -- Risen Star in 1988 and Lookin at Lee in 2017 managed a top-three finish, and only three others managed to finish 4th. If he can finish in the top 5, he will have run very well.