One of the most battle-tested entries in this year's Kentucky Derby, Enticed has run in five Derby qualifying races, going back to his third-place finish in the (G1) Champagne Stakes last October at Belmont Park, where he finished behind Derby contenders Firenze Fire and Good Magic. He next won the (G1) Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the Churchill Downs dirt.
He made his 2018 debut running fourth in the (G2) Holy Bull Stakes, where finished almost 15 lengths behind Audible. Sent back to New York, he got a bounce-back win the (G3) Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, racing one mile, and then stepped up to 1 1/8 miles in his final Derby prep, the (G2) Wood Memorial, also at Aqueduct, where he stalked a fast pace through the first six furlongs, but was unable to hold off Vino Rosso after some bumping through the stretch drive. He finished the Derby qualifying season with 103 points, good for seventh spot on the leaderboard.
In addition to the graded-stakes races listed above, Enticed made his career debut a winning one, racing six furlongs on the dirt at Saratoga last September. Overall, he has a record of three wins, a second, a third and a fourth in six lifetime starts, making him on one of the more experienced runners in the 2018 Derby field.
Sired by Medaglia d'Oro, Enticed is a half-brother to Derby contender Bolt d'Oro. Medaglia d'Oro was a Grade 1 winner at 1 1/4 miles in the 2002 Travers Stakes, and twice ran second in the 1 1/4 mile Breeders' Cup Classic. Grandsire El Prado was a Group 1 winner on the turf in Europe. Enticed's dam is It's Tricky, who was a multiple graded-stakes winner at up to 1 1/8 miles, and damsire Mineshaft won several races on the turf in the UK before coming over to the US and winning six of eight graded-stakes starts, including the 1 1/4 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont.
If experience counts - and it does, in the large Derby field - he has it. As outlined above, he has been racing at the top level in graded-stakes ever since his maiden win, and has been a factor in almost all of his races. He has the ability to get into a good stalking position behind the race leaders, which is what you usually need to do to win the Kentucky Derby. If he can live up to his pedigree, he should be able to handle the 1 1/4 miles, and he already has a win at Churchill.
While he has beaten several other Derby horses on the road to Churchill, for the most part those were second-tier Derby contenders, and he's been finishing behind more serious threats such as Good Magic, Vino Rosso and Audible. The loss to that one in the Holy Bull was particularly ugly, and he seemed to give up the fight rather easily when confronted by Vino Rosso in the Wood. He doesn't finish his races all that fast, even when he wins, and that could be a problem as they charge toward the wire in the Derby.
A decided longshot, right now Enticed sits at 25-1 in the Bovada future bets line, and slightly higher than that in the predicted race day odds in the estimation of several North American oddsmakers. A win would be a big upset, but hitting the bottom on exotic bets like trifectas and superfectas isn't out of the question.
Category : Betting Picks
Tag : Horse Racing
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