Top betting sites are jumping on Roadster’s bandwagon to win the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Or maybe I should say the best online sportsbooks are jumping on Roadster’s cart. See because a roadster is actually a horse hitched to a light cart. Tough the Bob Baffert-trained gray colt is more of a Hennessey Venom GT Spyder, as far as roadsters go. You’d think with a name like that he’d be a horseshoe-in to win the 145th Run of the Roses. But then quadrupeds such as Game Winner and Improbable are also in contention. Which comes to show that once again the Bard was right. What’s in a name? Although I suspect a horse by any other name would not smell as sweet.
Roadster
- Odds: +650
- Owner: Speedway Stable LLC
- Trainer: Bob Baffert
- Breeder: Stone Farm
- Earnings: $636,000
Roadster really entered the conversation after besting stable mate Game Winner in the 2019 Santa Anita Derby. That alone would be impressive. What makes it even more so is the fact that Roadster underwent throat surgery following the 2018 Del Mar Futurity. Which he finished in third place. Throat surgery? Perhaps he was suffering from a severe case of horseness. “Roadster is a light horse but has always shown brilliance from Day One,” Baffert said. “We’re just lucky we were able to bring him back, because after Del Mar I was worried that maybe the surgery didn’t go well, because it could’ve gone worse. But I couldn’t thank the surgeon that did it enough. He’s one of the best in the business, and I’ve never had issues with it. His breathing is not an issue.”
Omaha Beach
- Odds: +700
- Owner: Fox Hill Farms, Inc.
- Trainer: Richard E. Mandella
- Breeder: Charming Syndicate
- Earnings: $1,050,000
Charming Syndicate? Is that like the Lollipop Guild or something? Anyway. This horse has a lot of momentum having won the Arkansas Derby on April 13. As users of top betting sites should know, the Arkansas Derby was the last major Kentucky Derby prep of the season. Omaha had won as well the Rebel Stakes on March 16. Moreover, the Fox Hill Farms-owned colt may just have an extra edge on Roadster. And that’s its jockey Mike Smith, who rode Justify – also trained by Baffert – to Triple Crown glory last year. Furthermore, Smith rode Roadster in all four of his races. As it turned out, though, Dexter, New Mexico-born jockey may hail from a one-horse town, but he ain’t a one-horse guy. In fact, Smith rode Omaha Beach in the aforementioned Arkansas Derby and Rebel Stakes. Mind you, beating the Baffert-trained Improbable and Game Winner, respectively, just, you know, to add insult to injury. Baffert does take a quantum of solace in the fact that “[Smith] hasn’t beaten Roadster.” Yet.
Game Winner
- Odds: +750
- Owner: Gary and Mary West
- Trainer: Bob Baffert
- Breeder: Summer Wind Equine
- Earnings: $1,810,000
This bay colt is third on most top betting sites’ odds-boards. That’s very fitting, since Game Winner knows fully well what it’s like to come behind both Roadster and Omaha Beach. As a matter of fact, he lost to the Rebel Stakes to the latter by a nose. And the Santa Anita Derby to the former by a half-length. As a two-year old, Game Winner won the 2018 American Pharoah Stakes and the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Could this colt have peaked at the tender age of two? Baffert doesn’t think so. “Game Winner is a fighter,” the trainer said following the Santa Anita. “I think Game Winner’s next race will be better. I’ve been bringing him along really easy.”
All odds taken from MyBookie.ag sportsook.
