{"id":102238,"date":"2019-04-05T15:30:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T22:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=102238"},"modified":"2019-04-05T15:30:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T22:30:54","slug":"maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

With less than a month to go before the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs has opened its final futures pool for the May 4 race.<\/p>\n

\"\"
After a surprising win in last Saturday’s Florida Derby, Maximum Security finds himself the co-favorite with Game Winner in the Kentucky Derby futures pool betting at Churchill Downs. (Image: Derbe Glass\/Gulfstream Park)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Track officials selected 23 horses for the pool, with another option added for the field, or horses not listed. Betting opened at noon ET on Friday and will close at 6 pm ET Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

Two horses started off as the morning line co-favorites. One was a horse most expect to be in that position, while the other stormed on the scene in a big way last weekend.<\/p>\n

Game Winner, who won the Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs<\/a> last November, and Maximum Security, who won last week\u2019s Florida Derby wire-to-wire, started off at 8-1 odds. By 5 pm ET Friday, both horses dropped to 5-1.<\/p>\n

Game Winner will run in Saturday\u2019s Santa Anita Derby for his final prep race.<\/p>\n

Maximum Security\u2019s standing becomes even more impressive considering how he started his racing career. Trainer Jason Servis started him in a pair of claiming races, where someone could have purchased the colt for $16,000. None did, even as Maximum Security won those by 24-3\/4 lengths combined.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I glad I didn\u2019t lose him? Hell, yeah,\u201d Servis told reporters last Sunday. \u201cIs he training good and sound? Yes, but there was a reason why I ran him for $16,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other contenders<\/h2>\n

Behind those two is a\u00a0lightly raced contender who needs a big finish Saturday. Roadster, who has raced just once since September, started at 15-1 but moved to 9-1 in early afternoon betting Friday. However, Roadster needs to win the Santa Anita Derby or finish second to secure his spot.<\/p>\n

Improbable, who for most of the prep calendar was considered Game Winner\u2019s leading challenger, held morning line odds of 10-1, but those rose slightly to 12-1.<\/p>\n

Omaha Beach, who edged Game Winner in last month\u2019s Rebel Stakes, has remained at 10-1 since the betting window was opened.<\/p>\n

Early money went in on Anothertwistafate, who has three wins and a second in his last four starts. The El Camino Real Derby winner started at 30-1 but dropped to 18-1. The same happened with Tacitus, as the Tampa Bay Derby winner, also started at 30-1 and fell to 18-1.<\/p>\n

Fountain of Youth winner Code of Honor began the round at 12-1 and moved up slightly to 16-1.<\/p>\n

Question Marks<\/h2>\n

With a month to go, some horses have already run their last race in the prep season. While they may have posted some impressive performances, questions remain whether they\u2019ll be in Louisville in a month.<\/p>\n

Bourbon War is one of those horses. After finishing second to Code of Honor in the Fountain of Youth, he followed it up with a fourth-place result in the Florida Derby. With 31 points, he\u2019s currently 14th in the points standings, but with four 100-40-20-10 races taking place over the next two weeks, he could find himself out of the top 20.<\/p>\n

Bourbon War started the pool at 15-1, and his odds went to 20-1 by the afternoon.<\/p>\n

War of Will<\/a> impressed many with the way he ran in the Lecomte and Risen Star stakes, but a bad start in the Louisiana Derby has led to some concerns about his health. Last Friday, trainer Mark Casse posted good news on Twitter, with a video of the colt taking to the Keeneland track for training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to report that WOW went through extensive testing yesterday which included X-ray\u2019s & ultrasound,\u201d Casse tweeted. \u201cHe was cleared to start his training regimen which began today.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week later, some bettors still have reservations. War of Will started at 15-1, but he rose to 29-1 in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Bettors can place wagers at Churchill Downs, TwinSpires.com, or any online or satellite racing facility in North America. The full list of entries and current odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With less than a month to go before the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs has opened its final futures pool for the May 4 race. Track officials selected 23 horses for the pool, with another option added for the field, or horses not listed. Betting opened at noon ET on Friday and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":102241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/\",\"name\":\"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"(Image: Derbe Glass\/Gulfstream Park)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Horse Racing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool","description":"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool","og_description":"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1260,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/","name":"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg","datePublished":"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-05T22:30:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"Game Winner and Maximum Security start off the last round of Kentucky Derby Futures betting as the favorites. Betting runs through Sunday evening.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Maximum-Security-derby.jpg","width":1260,"height":800,"caption":"(Image: Derbe Glass\/Gulfstream Park)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maximum-security-game-winner-start-as-favorites-in-derby-futures-pool\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Horse Racing","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Maximum Security, Game Winner Start as Favorites in Derby Futures Pool"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}