The Road to the Kentucky Derby - Points Update

Las Vegas, NV - The Road to the Kentucky Derby is in full swing - victories by Overanalyze in the Remsen and Uncaptured in the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs way back on Nov. 24 propelled the 2-year-olds into the numbers four and five positions, respectively, in the standings. The standings have fluctuated mightily since the Kentucky Jockey Club and some newly minted three year olds have emerged as contenders for the Run For the Roses in May.

2012 ended with the $750,000 Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Betfair Hollywood Park-December 15 on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby." Violence earned the maximum 10 points with Fury Kapcori finishing second and Bob Baffert's Den's Legacy getting in for third. The Sham Stakes went down last weekend with Doug O'Neill's Goldencents looking very good in getting the win and the 10 points - Den's Legacy came up with another points result and finished a nice second while Bob Baffert's Mamando held on for third.

There have now been six qualifying stakes in the 14-race "Kentucky Derby Prep Season" portion of the Derby Trail for which points are awarded on a 10-4-2-1 basis for the first- through fourth-place finishers, respectively. The final race in the prep season will be the Feb. 18 Southwest Stakes (gr. II) at Oaklawn Park - after that the points values significantly increase. So what does it all mean - let's take a look.

For the first time in a very long while Todd Pletcher's Shanghai Bobby is not in top spot in the Kentucky Derby points standing - he sits in second with 20. The points lead now belongs to Goldencents after his win last weekend in the Sham - he has 24 points after the Sham.

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There are seven colts tied for third place with 10 points apiece - Violence with his win in the CashCall leads the way. Others tied with 10 points include Mike Maker's Joha, Todd Pletcher's Overanalyze, Mark Casse's Uncaptured, Bob Baffert's Power Broker, Irish bred Steeler and Nick Gonzalez trained River Seven. Bob Baffert's Den's Legacy, based on three straight money finishes in "The Road to the Kentucky Derby" races is in the mix in tenth place with six points.

In eleventh place in the standings is Tesseron, a Josie Carroll trained colt with five points while there is another log jam from twelfth to twentieth place. Included in this cluster is Kelly Breen's Bern Identity, Doug O'Neill's He's Had Enough and Know More, John Sadler's Capo Bastone, Mark Casse's Dynamic Sky, Artigiano, Chad Brown colt Normandy Invasion, Fury Kapcori and Ken McPeek trained Frac Daddy - they all have four points early in the qualification process.

Fortify currently sits alone in twenty-first place with three points while Mylute, Ken McPeek trained Java's War, Mark Casse's Indiano Jones, Irish colt Al Waab, Todd Pletcher pupil Delhomme and Dale Romans trained Dewey Square all have two points and are tied for twenty-second. This group of colts would be on the outside looking in if the Derby were run today.

Another nine colts currently have one point in the race to gain a top 20 spot and will have some work to do in order to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. The top 4 finishers in every "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series will garner points - needless to say these standings will remain fluid right up until the end. Stay tuned to OffTrackBetting.com for the latest on the lead up to May 4!