Churchill Downs will offer three Future Wager Pools for the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and one Future Wager Pool for the April 30 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I).
In a departure from the past, each wagering pool will be open for three days rather than four. While exacta wagers will again be offered on the Derby future wagers, there will be no Oaks exacta future wagering.
The dates for the Derby Future Wager are:
--Pool 1: Feb. 12-14
--Pool 2: March 5-7
--Pool 3: March 26-28
The Oaks Future Wager will be conducted during the same dates as Pool 2 of the Derby Future Wager.
This will mark the 12th year for the Derby Future Wager and the eighth year for the Oaks wagering. Betting for each pool will open at noon (ET) daily; the Derby pools will close at 6 p.m. on the final day of each pool; the Oaks pool will close at 6:30 p.m. March 7.
The KDFW and KOFW pools will consist of 24 wagering interests – 23 individual horses and a mutuel field of all others as the 24th wagering option. The Derby mutuel field includes all other 3-year-olds and the Oaks mutuel field includes all other 3-year-old fillies. Each bet is win only and is a $2 minimum. There are no refunds on the future wagers. According to a release from Churchill Downs, if it is determined when the pools are open that one of the individual horses has become ill or injured or other circumstances will prevent the horse from competing in either race, wagering on the horse will be suspended at that point.
Last year, longshot Derby winner Mine That Bird was included in the mutuel field in each of the three future wagering periods, paying $5.80 for Pool 1, $11.80 for Pool 2, and $36.80 for Pool 3. He returned $103.20 for each $2 win wager on Derby day. The 2009 future wager exacta of Mine That Bird ("all others") and Pioneerof the Nile paid $256.80 for Pool 2 and $554.60 for Pool 3, the only two pools in which the wager was offered. On Derby day, the exacta was worth $2,074.80. The record future payout for a Derby winner was the $188 in Pool 1 on Funny Cide in the 2003 Derby.
Last year's Oaks winner, Rachel Alexandra, returned $8.40 in the only future wagering pool and $2.60 on Oaks day. The Oaks future wager record payout was on Ashado, who returned $48.40 from the Pool 1 wagering in 2004.
"Last year's results proved just how unpredictable and exciting the Kentucky Derby and Oaks future wagers can be, as Mine That Bird, a 50-1 longshot winner on Derby day, returned a winning payout as an all others wager in all three Derby pools and the dominant Rachel Alexandra was actually a bettors bargain as the second betting choice in the only Oaks pool," Churchill Downs racetrack president Kevin Flanery said in a statement. "The shorter three-day future pools we've scheduled for 2010 for both wagers will sharpen the focus of our players, generate new excitement and add to the fun of betting experiences that are now a part of the traditions of both the Derby and Oaks."