While you (and us) were busy paying attention to those minor sports like the NFL Draft and the NBA Playoffs, the real Grand Daddy of them all snuck up on us. Of course, we are talking about the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby which will be held on Saturday, May 7th. We have for you a full schedule of the week's events and a peek at the early favorites.
It's a bit early in the the week yet for odds and other fun betting stuff associated with the Sport of Kings, but there is obviously a few early favorites being talked about. And because this is horse racing after all, the names are as much fun and seeing short people dressing in colorful striped clothes.
A horse called "Archarcharch" appears to have done well in the racing season leading up to the Kentucky Derby. According to a Bodog.com article, Archarcharch (aka Triple Arch?) is 4-2-0-1 in 2011 and earned $785,000. That's far more money than I earned typing so this is clearly an animal with some skill.
Other favorites include according to the same article include "Pants on Fire (winner of the Louisiana Derby) and Dialed In (winner of the Florida Derby)". Dialed In is far too boring of a name which means the betting public will stay away so you could find a good value bet there. Pants on Fire ran well but can't be trusted.
Actually, we have no idea about trusting Pants on Fire but how could you trust a horse called Pants on Fire. I would certainly put my money on Archarcharch which is a far more respectable sounding horse.
This week the big event on the schedule is the post position draw on Wednesday. For those not up to speed on your horse racing, this is a big deal. In fact, SB Nation's horse racing blog (yes, we have one of those too) will be live blogging the draw.
The Kentucky Derby race itself is on Saturday, May 7 with Derby post time: 6:24 p.m. ET / 3:24 p.m. PT. Be there with your crazy hats on and mint julep in hand.