Triple Crown Showdown Offers Virtual Kentucky Derby Betting

• The Kentucky Derby was scheduled for Saturday before the COVID-19 postponements.
• While the event has been postponed until September, a virtual Kentucky Derby will be run.
• Horses in the race will be previous Kentucky Derby winners, in which Secretariat is the favorite.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – By using data “fed into Inspired Entertainment’s computer models”, Churchill Downs was able to figure out a way to operate a virtual horse race.

While virtual horse racing has grown in popularity over the last few weeks, none of the races have the appeal of the Kentucky Derby, which set a record betting handle of $165 million during last year’s running.

This year, the event has been postponed until September 5 but on the originally scheduled Kentucky Derby date, bettors will find the ability to bet on a virtual race.

Rather than using the three-year-old horses that were planning on being on the track, the “Triple Crown Showdown” will feature previous Kentucky Derby winners including the track-record holder Secretariat – who is unsurprisingly the favorite.

Virtual Kentucky Derby Betting Odds

In this animated and computer-generated race, the winner is determined by past horse analysis and horse racing experts’ opinions of the jockeys and horses. For a complete breakdown of the virtual Kentucky Derby running, bettors can learn more at the event’s website.

“Those with a higher probability value are not necessarily going to win the race, but they’ll have more chances of doing so,” said Darren Rogers, a spokesman for Churchill Downs. The result is very much like the NBA draft. It’s a weighted lottery system.”

Once getting all of the details, picking a horse is just as easy as taking a futures bet. Shopping lines across three major sportsbooks provides bettors with the ability to get their best payout. 

While betting on Secretariat, bettors will find that BetOnline offer’s the best odds to win the race. Other notable differences amongst the virtual Kentucky Derbys odds include Count Fleet being second on the odds list at MyBookie while being near the middle on the other two betting sites.

However, bettors can also find that MyBookie offers betting odds on the Kentucky Derby in more ways than just who will win. The online sportsbook also offers odds on which horses will place and show for legal sports bettors as well.

As horse bettors are keen to their exacta and trifecta type wagers, sports bettors can actually find the best odds at MyBookie through this method. Offering “the field” options, choosing Secretariat to win, “the field” to place, and “the field” to show comes with odds of +190.

Taking out “the field” options, the favorite trifecta (Secretariat-Citation-Count Fleet) comes with +2500 odds.

Bettors have plenty of wagers available on the Kentucky Derby despite the race not being held this evening. The event itself is also offering a sweepstake to win a four-day, three-night all-inclusive experience. Donating towards COVID-19 efforts is all that is required.

No matter if bettors are only looking to bet on the virtual Kentucky Derby or spend some time in Louisville on September 5 to visit the real Kentucky Derby, the actual race will be held for the 146th consecutive year.

On the day of the postponed Kentucky Derby, Tiz The Law (+500) holds the betting leaderboard with Charlatan (+600), Authentic (+800), and Nadal (+800) close behind.

Until then, bettors can jump in on the action at 5:45 p.m. EST when the virtual Kentucky Derby airs on NBC.

News tags: Affirmed | American Pharoah | Assault | Churchill Downs | Citation | Count Fleet | Gallant Fox | horses | Justify | Kentucky | Kentucky Derby | Omaha | Seattle Slew | Secretariat | Sir Barton | War Admiral | Whirlaway