Photo:

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority & Churchill Downs – edited

There is nothing like the marriage of separate Kentucky Derby 2025 futures pools meshing pari-mutuels and fixed odds to create some
nerdy numbers, especially five months before the race will be run.

First Resort led a parade of 2-year-olds racing Saturday at
Churchill Downs by winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club. That earned him 10
points toward a run for the roses next spring. That also shortened his fixed
odds at Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada from 33-1 to 18-1. Pari-mutuel bettors
nationwide were more bearish, though. They made him no shorter than 38-1 in pool
2 of the nationwide Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed its four-day run
Sunday.

Zipse: Rated by Merit ranks among best juveniles.

Among individual choices, Citizen Bull drifted from 8-1 to
10-1 at Caesars, where he has been the favorite since he won Nov. 1 in the
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. In the KDFW, the Bob Baffert-trained colt closed as the
third choice at 16-1.

Barnes, the $3.2 million colt who won his debut Wednesday in
Baffert’s return to Churchill Downs, was the 13-1 individual favorite in the
KDFW. He also was bet down from 33-1 to 18-1 at Caesars.

Now for the nerdy part. Neither Citizen Bull nor Barnes was
the consensus favorite Sunday night. Measured by their best odds available between
the two pools, Grade 1 winner East Avenue was showing as the top choice at 15-1
in spite of his blown start that left him to finish ninth last month in the Breeders’
Cup Juvenile.

As expected, the mutuel field of all colts and geldings other
than the 38 individual choices made available across the U.S. closed as the 9-5
favorite in the KDFW. That option is not available at Caesars, which showed 74
individual 2-year-olds on its board.

Ranked by their best odds, these were the Kentucky Derby 2025 futures at both Caesars
and in the KDFW for the combined 86 betting options showing Sunday night: