Much like Augusta is to golf or Daytona is to NASCAR, Churchill Downs is often the first venue that comes to mind when casual sports fans think of horse racing. Post time for the 2025 Kentucky Derby is set for 6:57 p.m. ET on Saturday and the 20-horse 2025 Kentucky Derby field is set. Of the 20 jockeys with mounts at the Kentucky Derby 2025, six are past Kentucky Derby winners, including Brian Hernandez Jr., who won on Mystik Dan last year. Hernandez will be in the saddle on Blue Grass Stakes winner Burnham Square, who is 12-1 in the 2025 Kentucky Derby odds.
Meanwhile, Umberto Rispoli will look for his first Kentucky Derby win aboard race favorite Journalism (3-1), who is coming off a win in the Santa Anita Derby and enters Saturday on a four-race winning streak. With so much to consider while making your 2025 Kentucky Derby picks, a little expert help can go a long way.
The elder statesmen among the 2025 Kentucky Derby jockeys will be John Velazquez and Mike Smith. Velazquez is a three-time winner and will make his 27th appearance in the Run for the Roses aboard Grande (20-1), who is coming off a runner-up finish in the Wood Memorial where he got a wide trip. Velazquez wasn’t in the saddle for that run, but he did ride Grande to victory in his first two career starts (both wins). Smith is a two-time Kentucky Derby winner who will make his 29th appearance in the biggest event in American horse racing. The 59-year-old has more Grade 1 wins than any jockey in the history of North American horse racing and was a Triple Crown winner with Justify in 2018. He’ll team up with Bob Baffert (a six-time Kentucky Derby winner as a trainer) with Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez (12-1) on Saturday.
Given all the history, there’s a method to picking which horses to focus on for exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets in a Kentucky Derby like this, and SportsLine expert Jody Demling knows what it is. He can help you make the best 2025 Kentucky Derby picks possible.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling has nailed the Kentucky Oaks-Derby double 11 times in the last 16 years. He also predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last seven years and called 10 of the last 20 Preakness winners, including in 2023, when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta, as well as the trifecta in 2024. Anyone who has followed him on those picks could be up huge at sites like FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires, and 1/ST BET.
Now, with the 2025 Kentucky Derby post positions set and odds on the board, Demling is sharing his picks and 2025 Kentucky Derby betting predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.
Top 2025 Kentucky Derby expert picks
Here’s a refresher on these types of bets from SportsLine’s Jody Demling:
Kentucky Derby Exacta: Pick the first- and second-place finishers in the correct order. A $2 exacta returned $258.56 at the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone.
Kentucky Derby Trifecta: Pick the first-, second- and third-place finishers in the correct order. A $1 trifecta returned $1,113.84 at the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young.
Kentucky Derby Superfecta: Pick the first-, second-, third- and fourth-place finishers in the correct order. A $1 superfecta returned a colossal $8,254 at the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone, Forever Young and Catching Freedom.
While Demling has no quibbles about the favorite status of Journalism (3-1), the Michael McCarthy-trained colt isn’t his top pick. Instead, he is building his tickets around Luxor Cafe (15-1) and an even bigger longshot who is “generating buzz on the backside,” spicing up his 2025 Kentucky Derby exotics. You can see his picks here.
How to make 2025 Kentucky Derby bets
Demling has specific recommendations for exacta, trifecta and superfecta wagers so you can cover all your bases at the Kentucky Derby 2025. He’s sharing them over at SportsLine.
So which horses do you take? And in what combinations? Visit SportsLine to get Demling’s picks for exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets for the 2025 Kentucky Derby.