Photo:

Eclipse Sportswire – edited composite

It seems like old times in Las Vegas.

Bob Baffert not only has the favorite for Kentucky Derby 2025, his stable is home to six of the top 20 horses in the futures pool at
Caesars Sportsbook of Nevada.

Barnes shot to the top of the board with his 5 1/2-length
triumph Saturday in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita. Caesars
oddsmaker Jason Jingeleski shortened the $3.2 million colt owned by Amr Zedan
from 25-1 to 15-1.

Barnes runs away by 5 1/2 lengths in San Vicente.

“Prior to the race we saw a rush of several lower-stakes bets on Barnes,” Jingeleski said. “Immediately after Barnes’s San Vicente win, we saw several larger bets on him as well.”

To try and balance the market and its potential exposure,
Caesars drifted 12 of the next 14 horses, including three trained by Baffert. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile exacta
duo Citizen Bull and Gaming slipped to 28-1 as did maiden winner Madaket Road, and Grade 3 victor Getaway Car was pushed out to 30-1. San Saba, who finished third in his Dec. 26 debut, held steady at
35-1.

“After making Barnes the favorite, we decided to increase the odds of the other top contenders in order to maintain their appeal to our customers and keep things a little more balanced,” Jingeleski said.

Baffert, who has won the Kentucky Derby six times, has 12 of
the 95 horses in the Caesars futures, including unraced colts Cornucopian at
75-1 and Lannister at 100-1. Even though a suspension made him ineligible to
train in the Derby for the last three years, his horses still were prominent in
Nevada betting even before they were transferred to other trainers.

Trainer Michael McCarthy’s Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) winner
Journalism, who began the new year as the 17-1 favorite, drifted to 20-1 and
became the second choice at Caesars.

Grade 3 victor Sovereignty for trainer Bill Mott and maiden winner Patch Adams for Brad Cox were moved out to 22-1. Like
Barnes, they are by Into Mischief, whose progeny make up three of the top four
Derby futures horses.

Cyclone State, who won the Jerome Stakes on Saturday at
Aqueduct for trainer Chad Summers, made the biggest move up the board by going
from 100-1 to 40-1. Coal Battle, whose performance at Oaklawn in Saturday’s
Smarty Jones gave him two consecutive wins in Derby preps, shortened from 100-1
to 50-1.

These were the Kentucky Derby futures odds Sunday at Caesars
in Nevada with last week’s prices shown for comparison: