By Jim Freer and Barry Unterbrink
HorseRacingFLA’s published suggested bets for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby included $5 to win and show on Always Dreaming, and $5 to show on Lookin at Lee.
Always Dreaming, the 9-2 favorite, won the race and paid $43 on our recommended $10 in bets.
Lookin at Lee, at 33-1, rallied to finish second—2 ¾ lengths behind Always Dreaming and five lengths ahead of 40-1 shot Battle of Midway who came in third.
Lookin at Lee paid $38 on a recommended $5 bet.
Unfortunately, our recommended exacta and trifecta bets did not come through.
We included Always Dreaming and Lookin at Lee in those bets. Our two key horses were Classic Empire, who finished fourth, and McCraken, who finished eighth.
We suggested $89.50 in bets. We had a payoff of $81—for a 9 percent negative return on investment.
But please note that this was the first time that we did not have a profit in our four years of recommending Kentucky Derby bets. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 our suggested bets on that race included the winning exacta.
Even with our slight loss last Saturday, we have a combined profit of 47 percent for the last four Kentucky Derbys.
We have recommended $273.50 in Kentucky Derby bets, with a payoff of $400.95.
The Preakness (Grade 1) will be run at Pimlico in Baltimore on Saturday May 20.
We will publish our recommended Preakness bets early that afternoon.
Our recommended Preakness bets were profitable in 2014, 2015 and 2016. That included a winning exacta bet each of the three years.
For her three years, our combined Preakness bets were $156.00 with a payoff of $234.35. That is a 50 percent return on investment.
