Virtually on the eve of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby bookmakers have been thrown a curved ball that’s forced some dramatic changes.
This followed the stunning news that the favorite, Omaha Beach, would not be running in the ‘Run for the Roses.’
Due to an ‘entrapped epiglottis’, he was officially scratched from the race on Wednesday.
In the aftermath of this shock, development odds have frantically been revised. Bookmakers have also had to ready themselves to cope with a mass of bet cancelations.
Punters who backed Omaha Beach have the right to have their bets canceled.
So do the backers of many other horses in the race whose odds and post positions have also changed.
Who wants to be a bookmaker right now?
In view of the millions of dollars wagered on this race who would want to be a bookmaker right now?
Omaha Beach will be replaced in the Derby by Bodexpress, the only other horse eligible to race.
Bodexpress will not take Omaha’s No 12 post position, however.
All horses below No 12 will shift up one place with Bodexpress getting the 20th post spot.
And the odds? They were reset as quickly as possible by Mike Battaglia who had set the original odds earlier this week. He has done it for every Kentucky Derby since 1974.
Game Winner is new Derby favorite
The new favorite? It is ace trainer Bob Baffert’s Game Winner which will now start in the 15th post position.
Baffert, revered as one the US’s great trainers of all time, has two other horses in the race. One is ‘Roadster’ at post No 5, the other ‘Improbable’ at No 12.
‘Game-Winner’ will now carry top odds of 9-2. And it says a great deal about Baffert, that ‘Roadster’ and ‘Improbable’ are immediately behind as joint second favorites at 5-1. (See all the odds with their post spots in the table below).
Baffert’s three horses have a lot to live up to. He has won the Kentucky Derby five times, ‘Justify’ last year being his most recent champion.
Omaha Beach out for weeks, not days
Richard Mandella, Omaha Beach’s trainer, confirmed in a media release Wednesday that his horse will take weeks rather than days to heal.
He said: “After training this morning we noticed him cough a few times. It caused us to scope him and we found an entrapped epiglottis. We can’t fix it this week. We’ll have to have a procedure done in a few days. He’ll probably be out of training for three weeks. “
Footnote: The epiglottis is a triangular-shaped cartilage. It lies at the base of the airway just in front of the arytenoid cartilages. It covers the airway during swallowing. It is normally located above the soft palate and can cause trouble breathing.
Omaha Beach should be fine in the long run but it will be unsafe for him to run in his present condition.
The full Kentucky Derby field
(See under Odds, Horse, Jockey and post number)
9-2 Game Winner, Joel Rosario No 15
5-1 Roadster, Irad Ortiz No 5
5-1 Improbable, Florent Geroux, No 16
8-1Maximum Security, Luis Saez No 7
8-1 Tacitus, Jose Ortiz No 8
12-1 Code of Honor, John Velazquez No 12
12-1 Win Win Win, Julian Pimentel No 13
15-1 War of Will, Tyler Grafalione No 1
15-1 By my Standards, Gabriel Saez, No 3
15-1 Vekoma, Javier Castellano No 6
20-1 Tax, Junior Alvarado No 2
30-1 Plus Que Parfait, Ricardo Santana Jr No 9
30-1 Cutting Humor. Corey Lanerie No 10
30-1 Haikal, Rajiv Maragh, No 11
30-1Long Range Toddy, Jon Court No 17
30-1 Spinoff, Manny Franco No 18
30-1 Country House, Flavien Prat No 19
30-1 Bodexpress, Chris Landeros No 20
50-1 Gray Magician, Drayden van Dyk No 4
50-1 Master Fencer, Julien Leparoux No 14.
