Kentucky Derby winner can be divined with help from handicappers
Four horse racing handicappers offer insight into how they pick the Kentucky Derby winner before the race begins Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs.
Editor's note: Follow coverage of the 2026 Kentucky Derby throughout the day. You’re going to pick the Kentucky Derby winner this year. We all are.
All we need to do is find the right clue, or the right system, or the right expert. Will the winner be determined, or divined, by the horse’s name, silk colors or jockey? (You could do worse than "Big Money" Mike Smith, the Hall-of-Famer who will be riding So Happy .
) Or will the winner emerge from the Beyer Speed Figures, a rating system devised by journalist and handicapper Andrew Beyer. (If so, your horse is Further Ado, whose 106 Beyer Speed Figure from the Blue Grass Stakes last month is the highest in the field. ) Or maybe you got a connection to Bill Benter, the former physicist whose computer algorithm has reportedly earned him $1 billion in horse betting.
But with time running out, our focus is on four handicappers. The importance of horse psychology Kerry M. Thomas, an equine behavior specialist, studies racehorses in search of something most bettors probably overlook.
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