TwinSpires.com previews the Kentucky Derby

Most years, part of the Kentucky Derby narrative would be the potential for a rivalry between champion three-time Grade 1 winner American Pharoah and undefeated two-time Grade 1 winner Dortmund. One or the other is most likely to win this year’s Derby, and either horse is good enough to perform well to give the other a challenge. The problem with anticipating a rivalry is that the same person–Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert–conditions both of them. It’s the Derby, so of course they’re facing each other now, but it might not happen again until the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The winner will go on to the Preakness Stakes while the loser likely won’t try to stymie his stablemate’s Triple Crown chances (if neither wins then there’s no rivalry anyway). In this way Baffert is like University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, who stacks his teams with the best of the best each year, and who like Baffert, has to reload every year or so (Calipari because his players go to the NBA, Baffert because his horses go to stud–which could be the same thing depending on which stories you believe about NBA groupies). Anyway, conservative bettors can take advantage of TwinSpires.com’s free $20 offer for Kentucky Sports Radio readers by betting $10 to win on both American Pharoah and Dortmund, and if one of them wins you’ll get at least $30 back plus be on your way to another free $80. But if it’s a free $20 then why not just go for it? Neither Baffert nor Calipari would pick favorites necessarily, but that doesn’t mean you can’t–especially when it means more money. But if you really want to get jazzy then why not try to beat them both? My next two choices would be Frosted ($15 to win) and Bolo (30-to-1). That’s enough to pay for cotton candy AND popcorn at Rupp Arena.

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— Ed DeRosa, TwinSpires.com