Horse Racing

Unlike the 2018 Kentucky Derby, which features several legitimate contenders, the 2018 Kentucky Oaks is shaping up to be a two-horse battle between Midnight Bisou and Monomoy Girl. Those two sit first and second on the Oaks qualifying list, and have dominated their prep races. Here's a look at those two favorites, and a third thrown in for good measure.

The winner of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and the Two-Year-Old Horse of the Year, Good Magic has been under a lot of scrutiny this spring on the road to the 2018 Kentucky Derby. He was a 12-1 oversight back in November when he won the BC Juvenile, and he'll be in that same range come Derby Day.

Along with Justify, Magnum Moon is the second horse to make the 2018 Kentucky Derby field who did not race as a two-year-old in 2017. Given that a horse unraced at two has not won the Derby in more than 130 years, these horses are usually a toss for handicappers of the race. But this year, both of these horses are legitimate contenders to win.

Although almost all of the 20 horses set to race in the 2018 KY Derby were born and bred in Kentucky, the Derby almost always sets off a debate over West coast versus East coast horses. As a betting angle, horses that have been doing most of their prep racing in California have had an edge in the past few years.

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.

The final major prep race for the 2018 Kentucky Derby goes Saturday from Oaklawn Park, with the running of the (G1) $1 million Arkansas Derby. As a Kentucky Derby qualifying race, nine are expected to go to the gate to chase the purse money and 100 qualifying points to the winner. They'll be racing 1 1/8 miles on the Oaklawn dirt track.

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.