The Kentucky Derby will be run 3 weeks from this Saturday, on May 1st, but it’s already pretty clear who the top three choices will be when the gate opens at Churchill Downs. After another brilliant performance by Eskendareya in last Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, the son of Giant’s Causeway will be heavily favored at post time. Bob Baffert’s Lookin at Lucky experienced traffic trouble which caused him to finish 3rd in the Santa Anita Derby, is the best late runner in this year’s 3-year-old crop and should be sent off as the second betting choice. Following two consecutive wire-to-wire victories in the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derbies, both on the Polytrack, the fleet Sidney’s Candy will most likely be bet down to the 3rd choice when making his first start on the dirt at Churchill Downs.

As always, the Kentucky Derby will allow a maximum of 20 horses to start in the Triple Crown race, but expect closer to 30 horses to enter the race. When this happens, Churchill Downs gives preference based on earnings in Graded Stakes races. Any 3-year-old that still needs to boost his earnings in order to earn a spot in the top 20 still has two opportunities this Saturday: the richest Derby Prep, the $1 million Arkansas Derby and Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes. Below is a current list of 3-year-olds listed by Graded Stake earnings.

Rank Horse Trainer Earnings
1 Lookin At Lucky Bob Baffert $1,480,000
2 Noble's Promise Kenneth McPeek $708,000
3 Rule Todd Pletcher $645,000
4 Sidney's Candy John Sadler $630,000
5 Eskendereya Todd Pletcher $600,000
6 Mission Impazible Todd Pletcher $473,434
7 Ice Box Nicholas Zito $457,500
8 Endorsement Shannon Ritter $400,000
9 Conveyance Bob Baffert $386,000
10 American Lion Eoin Harty $378,000
11 Discreetly Mine Todd Pletcher $340,000
12 Dean's Kitten Michael Maker $326,475
13 Awesome Act Jeremy Noseda $285,000
14 Dublin D. Lukas $273,208
15 Interactif Todd Pletcher $270,450
16 Homeboykris Richard Dutrow, Jr. $250,500
17 Jackson Bend Nicholas Zito $230,000
18 Backtalk Thomas Amoss $225,916
19 Aikenite Todd Pletcher $218,000
20 Make Music for Me Alexis Barba $215,000
21 Mendip Saeed bin Suroor $200,000
22 Radiohead (GB) Richard Dutrow, Jr. $196,332
23 Uh Oh Bango R. Owens $187,952
24 Odysseus Thomas Albertrani $180,000
25 Setsuko Richard Mandella $180,000
26 A Little Warm Anthony Dutrow $180,000
27 Super Saver Todd Pletcher $163,832
28 Pleasant Prince Wesley Ward $162,500
29 Tempted to Tapit Steve Klesaris $156,000
30 Caracortado Michael Machowsky $153,000

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