{"id":125164,"date":"2025-09-09T12:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/125164\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:56:09","slug":"kentucky-derby-betting-road-to-the-derby-opens-with-iroquois-stakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/125164\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Derby Betting: Road to the Derby Opens With Iroquois Stakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, the Road to the Kentucky Derby<\/a> (G1) opens Saturday at Churchill Downs<\/a> with the $300,000 Iroquois Stakes<\/a> (G3).<\/p>\n

\"\"Comport. Coady Photo.<\/p>\n

For all of you handicappers tracking promising 2-year-olds over the summer, it\u2019s time to hunker down and see if you\u2019re on the right path.<\/p>\n

The 1-mile Iroquois offers Derby qualifying points on a sliding scale of 10-5-3-2-1<\/a> to the first five finishers. Qualifying points will increase significantly as the road to the 152nd\u00a0Derby on May 2 moves forward with more than two dozen preps.<\/p>\n

The first wave of preps begins Oct. 4 with a trio of Grade 1s — the American Pharoah Stakes<\/a> at Santa Anita<\/a>, the Champagne Stakes<\/a> at Aqueduct<\/a> and the Breeders\u2019 Futurity<\/a> at Keeneland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Street Sense Stakes<\/a> (G3) is Oct. 26 at Churchill, with the Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile<\/a> (G1) on Oct. 31 at Del Mar<\/a> closing out the month \u2013 and usually determining the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.<\/p>\n

Among the leading 2-year-old males through the summer are Ted Noffey, winner of the Hopeful Stakes<\/a> (G1) on Sept. 1 at Saratoga<\/a> for trainer Todd Pletcher; Brant, winner of the Del Mar Futurity<\/a> (G1) on Sept. 7 at Del Mar <\/a>for Bob Baffert, Blackout Time for trainer Kenny McPeek, and Ewing for trainer Mark Casse.<\/p>\n

Comport tops Iroquois Stakes Field<\/p>\n

While none will be running in the Iroquois, Comport looks to be the headliner in a field of 10 entered on Monday. A win would move him right into the mix of 2-year-olds to watch.<\/p>\n

Comport, winner of the 7-furlong Ellis Park<\/a> Juvenile on Aug. 10 for trainer Eddie Kenneally, brings a 2-for-3 record into the race and will leave from gate 7 under Tyler Gaffalione.<\/p>\n

Prior to his first stakes win, Comport broke his maiden at Churchill during the spring meet, and ran second in the Bashford Manor Stakes.<\/p>\n

Spice Runner, runner-up to Comport in the Ellis Park Juvenile, looks to turn the tables for trainer Steve Asmussen.<\/p>\n

Spice Runner won his debut in late May at Churchill Downs before finishing fifth in the Bashford Manor. Jockey Jose Ortiz will ride from post 5.<\/p>\n

Also entered are Nothing Personal, Sometime, No More Cents, So Special, Shake and Rattle, Vost, Nine Ball, and Maximus Prime.<\/p>\n

Post time for the Iroquois is 4:26 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

The morning-line odds will be announced later in the week.<\/p>\n

The Iroquois is part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup<\/a> \u201cDirt Dozen\u201d series where the top three finishers earn credits toward entry fees in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile.<\/p>\n

Road to Kentucky Oaks Also opens Saturday<\/p>\n

Also\u00a0on the 11-race card Saturday is the 57th\u00a0running of the $300,000 Pocahontas Stakes (G3), the opening prep on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks<\/a> (G1) on May 1.<\/p>\n

The 1-mile race has the same qualifying points structure as the Iroquois \u2013 10-5-3-2-1 to the first five finishers.<\/p>\n

Dazzling Dane, a two-length winner of the Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park<\/a>, is among the six 2-year-old fillies entered. She is 2-for-2 for Maryland-based trainer Brittany Russell. Luis Saez has the call from post 6.<\/p>\n

Also entered are Our Two Girls, Starlit Sky, Miss Complicated,\u00a0Taken\u00a0by the Wind, Joke Maker, and Embrace the Moment.<\/p>\n

Our Two Girls and Taken by the Wind are both trained by Kenny McPeek a four-time winner of the Pocahontas.<\/p>\n

Post time is 3:21 p.m.<\/p>\n

The race is part of the BC \u201cDirt Dozen\u201d as the top three nominated finishers gain partial entry credits to the BC Juvenile Fillies<\/a> (GI).<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Believe it or not, the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1) opens Saturday at Churchill Downs with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[59352,59351,3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-125164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-iroquois-stakes-betting","tag-iroquois-stakes-odds","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}