First 2021 Kentucky Derby odds released offshore
Steve Asmussen has started 21 horses in the Kentucky Derby without producing a winner. None was a post-time favorite. At least for the moment, though, the Hall of Fame trainer has the top betting choice for Kentucky Derby 2021.
Already a Grade 1 winner, undefeated Jackie’s Warrior opened at 33-1, the shortest priced of 20 horses posted Friday by an offshore betting site. Technically illegal in the U.S., what appear to be the first odds for the 2021 race still provide a barometer to prices that will eventually be available in Nevada. The list may also inform the first Churchill Downs pari-mutuel futures pool that is usually open Thanksgiving weekend.
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With three wins in as many starts, Jackie’s Warrior had a stakes-record time of 1:21.29 in the seven-furlong Hopeful Stakes (G1) Monday at Saratoga. Ridden by Joel Rosario, the Maclean’s Music colt owned by Kirk and Judy Robison won by 2 1/4 lengths as the second betting choice. His Beyer Speed Figure of 95 was the highest for the current crop of 2-year-olds.
“He’s a fast horse,” Rosario said Saturday. “He was able to carry his speed the whole way around. He’s a big horse, and it looks like he can go longer, too.”
The last Hopeful winner that found the winner’s circle at the Derby was Affirmed on his way to the 1978 Triple Crown. Back then the Hopeful was six furlongs. I’ll Have Another was the last Derby winner that had prepped in the Hopeful, finishing sixth in the summer of 2011. Basin won the Hopeful last year for Asmussen but did not run for the roses last Saturday.
Only one week removed from his sixth Kentucky Derby victory, Bob Baffert has the 40-1 second choice in Freedom Fighter. With Drayden Van Dyke riding, the Violence colt led the whole way in winning his five-furlong debut by a head Aug. 1 as a 1-2 favorite at Del Mar. That is where he returned to the work tab Aug. 22 with a 47.0-second bullet over four furlongs. He has not had a timed breeze since.
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Dr. Schivel and Sittin On Go, both graded-stakes winners last weekend, are next at 50-1. Trained by Luis Méndez, Dr. Schivel was a 7-5 favorite when he won the Del Mar Futurity (G1) by 1 3/4 lengths. From the Dale Romans stable, Sittin On Go earned 10 Derby prep points with his 24-1 upset in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.
Following are all the 2-year-olds that opened in the Derby futures:
33-1 - Jackie’s Warrior.
40-1 - Freedom Fighter.
50-1 - Dr. Schivel, Sitting On Go.
66-1 - Calibrate, Founder, Prisoner, Real Talk, Reinvestment Risk, Spielberg, Team Merchants, Whiskey Double.
100-1 - Game Day Play, Midnight Bourbon, Momos, Mutasaabeq, Sonic Brees, Super Stock, Vittorio, Weston.