Well, it's that time of the year again, but in September rather than May and that has changed the race dramatically as three of the top horses were ready early in the year, but not now.
Here is a link to the eligible horses
https://www.kentuckyderby.com/horses
You can click on each horse to watch their races if you want to see how they look.
Tiz the Law is likely to go off at EVEN money which very, very rarely happens. He does look much the best. He is a fun story. He is owned by the group of friends from upstate NY who won in 2003. They like to show up to their horses' races in old, yellow school buses. I'm not sure the entire group will be allowed to attend next weekend.
Art Collector has looked excellent recently and will be the second choice. He's got a great story as well. His trainer, Tom Drury, has won fewer races in his thirty career than some of big trainers have won in the two or three years. The Blue Grass was his first Grade 1 win. He's become a specialist who figures what's wrong with expensive horses, fixes it and sends them back to the big name trainer, who makes millions from those horses. On emotion, you have to pull for Drury.
Authentic is Bob Baffert's Derby horse (although he's really the #4 3 year old in the stable, the others are hurt) and has looked great and average. He's won easily and gotten passed like he's standing still by Honor AP. Distance could be a problem for Authentic.
Honor AP is trained by John Sheriffs, who won the Derby with 50-1 shot Giacomo and trained the great Zenyatta. Sheriffs moves to the beat of his drummer, but wins a lot of big races. Honor AP looked like monster when he beat Authentic in the Santa Anita Derby. Then, he bounced and threw in a stinker last race. If he runs like he did in the SA Derby, he'll give Tiz the Law a race.
King Guillermo hasn't run since finishing second to Nadal (Baffert's injured horse) in the Arkansas Derby in May. That was a good second. He easily won the Tampa Bay Derby. He is owned by 5X MLB All Star Victor Martinez. The stories are the horse has been training lights out, but few horses win the Derby with that much time off.
The rest are basically running for spots in the trifecta and superfecta.
After the draw, we'll get a little more serious.