Kentucky Derby 2019 Live:Race Start Time, TV Coverage and Live-Stream
Kentucky Derby 2019 live stream: How to Watch Triple Crown race online
The 145th installment of the Kentucky Derby is just a day away now, and it's really anyone's race.
As the first race in the pursuit of a Triple Crown, the winner of the Derby will look to grab wins at the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in the weeks after. Last year's Derby winner, Justify, was the second horse to pull off the trifecta—following American Pharoah in 2015—in the last 40 years.
2019 Kentucky Derby Info
Date: Saturday, May 4
TV: NBC (Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET)
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra
Race Time: 6:50 p.m. ET
A lot has happened in the days leading up to the Run for the Roses.
Omaha Beach, the favorite to win the race, was scratched from the running on Wednesday due to an entrapped epiglottis, which causes breathing difficulties.
Jockey Mike Smith, winner of the Triple Crown last year with Justify, will now be sidelined from the Derby after choosing to ride Omaha Beach over Bob Baffert's Roadster.
According to Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia, Game Winner (+450, bet $100 to win $450) now stands as the favorite, with Improbable (+500) and Roadster (+500) following closely behind. Tacitus and Maximum Security follow the Baffert trio, both with Game Winner takes the top spot in Omaha Beach's absence because of his impressive victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2018. The horse was also unanimously named the champion two-year-old male last year, according to ESPN.
Award-winning trainer Baffert is looking to capture his sixth Derby title after having his horse Justify take the Triple Crown last year, just two year's after his horse American Pharoah did the same.
The trainer's chances of capturing another Roses title bodes well, as the top three horses are all his. If he did, he would tie Ben Stones for the most Derby wins by a trainer.
Improbable notched a win at the Street Sense Stakes on the undercard for the Breeders' Cup. Roadster also came away with a victory over Game Winner in the Santa Anita Derby. However, after drawing slot 17, Roadster will have to overcome the "Curse of the 17 Post"—no horse has ever won the Derby from that position.
No matter the outcome, Saturday is stacking up to be an exciting day of horse racing.
The connections of the horse that gets drawn in No. 17 this year will sensibly talk about breaking the duck in 2019, and there is no logical reason why it has drawn a blank for so long. But it is one to be avoided.
As is, potentially, No. 2. A gate so close to the inside rail should be advantageous given it means a shorter route around the 10 furlong track.
But the last winner of the Derby to start from gate two was Affirmed in 1978. Affirmed went on to become the 11th winner of the Triple Crown, with the 12th not coming until American Pharoah in 2015 before Justify repeated the feat last year.
The inside posts have proved a scourge to Derby hopefuls in recent years, though, with no winners coming from the inside three gates in the 21st century.
Somewhere in the middle of the pack seems to be the sweet spot.
Winner Super Saver came out of No. 4 in 2010. No. 5 has 10 winners to its name, including Always Dreaming in 2017, more than any other post.
Meanwhile, posts No. 7, 8 and 10 have combined for 23 winners, including Justify last year.
Nyquist won from No. 13 in 2016 and American Pharoah from No. 15, proving a wider berth is far from terminal to a horse’s Derby chances.
But it seems clear that the extreme ends of the starting gate are to be avoided.
