Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool One

The first of three future wager pools for the Kentucky Derby closed on Feb. 15th, and as usual, the mutual field was the favorite at odds of 5-2.

For those of you unfamiliar with the tradition of the future wager pool at the Kentucky Derby, the premise is to pick the Derby winner before knowing precisely which horses will be running. Horses are assigned an odds to win (only win bets are allowed in the future pools) and bettors are given the opportunity to pick a winner at substantially higher odds than they are likely to receive on race day (provided that their pick actually makes it to the gate). In this process, some early contenders who have already started establishing themselves are given their own odds, while all other contenders who are not specifically named are considered part of the mutual field. In other words, a mutual field bet gets you all the remaining Triple Crown nominated horses.

As you can see, I have listed the horses singled out in the future wager pool in a column on the right-hand side of the blog. I find this the easiest way to track the runners as we count down to the main event. By clicking on the horse's name, you will be taken to their individual profile page on the Thoroughbred Times website, where more in-depth information about each is available.

The second future wager pool is slated for March 12-15, and final early wagering will be held April 2-5. Also, for those interested, the Kentucky Oaks (the filly version of the Kentucky Derby) has reduced its future wagering pools from three to one this year, and it will coincide with the second Derby pool in March. When it becomes available, those horses will be listed as well.

That said, I think it's also important to track several of the horses not singled out in the initial future wager pool. Keep in mind that last year's winner, Big Brown, was not an individual entry in the first pool, nor was former Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Curlin in 2007. To that end, I've created a separate list of "Other's to Watch." If there are any horses that I've missed that you feel belong there, send me a note and I'll get them added.