Bovada

The winner of three straight races to start his career, California-based Bolt d'Oro appeared to have a lock on the Champion Two-Year-Old Colt title in 2017 until running third in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He came into the 2018 season with an eye on redemption and a Kentucky Derby title and he remains a solid contender on the first Saturday of May.

As one of the strangest records in all of sports, it has been 135 years since a horse that didn't race as a two year old has won the Kentucky Derby at age three. With his impressive win the (G1) Santa Anita Derby, Justify will be going to Churchill Downs with a solid chance of breaking that streak.

While horse owners and racing analysts can devote a lot of attention to pedigree, for the average horse racing handicapper, knowing the dam's complete grandsire line back five generations is probably too much information. At the same time, to handicap the Kentucky Derby, finding horses with the pedigree to more-likely-than-not last the 1 1/4 miles distance needs to be a consideration.

In the 2017 Kentucky Derby, UAE Derby winner Thunder Snow came into the race with a fair amount of hype, and then broke from the gate and started to buck, never finishing the race. After several years of producing also-rans for the Derby, the route to Kentucky that goes through Meydan Race Track in Dubai has produced a solid contender for 2018 in Mendelsshon.

A small but high-profile field of seven will go to the gate at Santa Anita Park on Saturday for the running of the (G1) Santa Anita Derby. As a qualifying race for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, the field will be led by Bolt d'Oro, who has already clinched a spot in the Derby starting gate and who will be trying to confirm his standing as Derby favorite.

A field of 14 will go to the gate on Saturday in the (G1) Blue Grass Stakes, all with one last chance to pick up enough qualifying points to make the gate for the 2018 Kentucky Derby. Run at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt at Keeneland Race Course, the race offers 100 qualifying points to the winner and a total purse of $1 million.

Trainer Todd Pletcher won the 2017 Kentucky Derby with Always Dreaming, and it looks like he has a serious shot at getting the repeat with Audible. The colt is on a four-race win streak, and should be one of the Derby favorites when the gates open at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May.

With four weeks to go until race day, a handful of horses have already claimed their starting spot in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, and as the final prep races are run in the next two weeks, the field will fill out. While handicappers generally focus on the performance of the horses when trying to pick a winner, it's useful to know which jockeys and trainers have had recent Derby success.

The 2018 Kentucky Derby is just one month away, we're into the most important qualifying races of the season. Two weeks ago the (G1) Louisiana Derby was the first qualifying race to award 100 points to the winner, and last weekend the (G1) Florida Derby was the second. There are four major preps left, and here's a look at what major races have produced the most Kentucky Derby winners.