With or without Mattress Mack’s money, smile happily was still the top individual pick among early bettors in Pool 2 of the pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
Check out the full list of Kentucky Derby contenders.
The foal of Jim McIngvale’s stallion Runhappy was odd of 9-1 after the first betting day closed Friday at 10 p.m. EST. The winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), trained by Ken McPeek, withdrew $5,380 from the $69,181 bet into the winning pool in the first 10 hours it was open.
The head-to-head entry, made up of “all other 3-year-olds” excluding the 23 nominated horses, was the even money favorite, pulling in $26,053 in the winning pool.
McIngvale waited up to an hour before Pool 1 of the KDFW closed on November 28 to place a $10,000 bet on Smile Happy, lowering the foal’s final odds from 15-1 to 8-1.
Chasing Time, last week’s compensation winner for trainer Steve Asmussen, was the early runner-up among the individual horses in Pool 2, raising $4,725 to put his odds at 11-1. Jack Christopher, winner of Chad Brown’s Champagne Stakes (G1) who is recovering from fall tibia surgery, was next for $4,381 and 12-1.
In exact bets, “all others” over Happy Saver was the favored pair with a potential payout of $53.40 on a winning bet of $2. The day 1 Exacta handle was $15,215.
Betting in the KDFW is open Saturdays from noon to 10pm and Sundays from 12pm to 6pm EST. It may be most affected by Saturday’s run of the Lecomte Stakes (G3), a 10-4-2-1 points prep at Fair Grounds.
| KDFW Pool 2 | ML | free | Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Chase Tme | 20-1 | 11-1 | $4,725 |
| 2. Classic Causeway | 30-1 | 78-1 | $721 |
| 3. Command Achievements | 50-1 | 45-1 | $1,226 |
| 4. Courvoisier | 30-1 | 30-1 | $1,832 |
| 5. Dash Attack | 20-1 | 31-1 | $1,747 |
| 6. Emmanuel | 50-1 | 33-1 | $1,648 |
| 7. Epicenter | 15-1 | 34-1 | $1,607 |
| 8. Giant game | 30-1 | 27-1 | $1,973 |
| 9. Tall Oak | 50-1 | 51-1 | $1,077 |
| 10. Jack Christopher | 10-1 | 12-1 | $4,381 |
| 11. Major General | 50-1 | 58-1 | $966 |
| 12. Make it big | 50-1 | 99-1 | $464 |
| 13. Mo Donegal | 12-1 | 29-1 | $1,843 |
| 14. Pappacap | 20-1 | 18-1 | $2,943 |
| 15. Rattle N Roll | 30-1 | 34-1 | $1,615 |
| 16. Simplification | 30-1 | 75-1 | $747 |
| 17. Slow Down Andy | 15-1 | 24-1 | $2,215 |
| 18. Smile happily | 8-1 | 9-1 | $5,380 |
| 19. Tiz the Bomb | 20-1 | 20-1 | $2,689 |
| 20. Trafalgar | 50-1 | 99-1 | $499 |
| 21. Reserved | 50-1 | 52-1 | $1,063 |
| 22. White Abarrio | 50-1 | 99-1 | $274 |
| 23. Zandon | 12-1 | 37-1 | $1,482 |
| 24. All other 2 year olds | 7-5 | 1-1 | $26,053 |