Posted on 5/2/2008 1:48:42 PM

Kentucky Derby Online Betting – 134th Rendition

By Dave Golokhov

Although it looked like some sour weather might dampen the 134th rendition of the Kentucky Derby online betting festivities, the forecast has cleared up for the most part for this Saturday. Handicapping the Run for the Roses might be as tough as ever since so many horses don’t have enough experience on conventional dirt. Here are three horses to look at when you are placing your horse bets this weekend:

Adriano

Not to be mixed up with the famed soccer player, Adriano will be among Big Brown’s competition at the Derby. Adriano has been tabbed as somewhat of a turf horse since two of his three wins have been on turf while the third was on polytrack. His only race on dirt resulted in a ninth place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes.

Trainer Graham Motion wasn’t sold on the idea of committing Adriano to the Derby, but after a few practice sessions at Churchill Downs, he cozied to the idea.

The good news is that there aren’t a ton of horses in the field that have more experience than Adriano on conventional dirt. Colonel John and Bob Black have yet to race on it and Cowboy Cal didn’t win in his only try.

Adriano seems to be maturing at the right time and after a dominating performance at Lane’s End, we’ll find out if he can do better than his pitiful first start on dirt.

Big Brown

What can Brown do for you? That will be the biggest question of the Derby as Big Brown enters the race as the leader of the pack. He’s unbeaten in three races and trainer Richard Dutrow is confident – borderline cocky – that he’ll win. Big Brown is inexperienced but gained most of his acclaim by winning the Florida Derby on March 26th. He didn’t just eke out a win, he won by five lengths.

But how much does inexperience factor? Big Brown has only three races under his belt, which makes kind of like a rookie quarterback starting the Super Bowl.

Curlin finished third in a similar situation last year but if Big Brown won, it would be the first time since 1915 that such an inexperienced horse won. But Big Brown enters the 134th Kentucky Derby with the biggest winning margin of any unbeaten horse in the Derby’s history.

Colonel John

Colonel John has dominated most of his races in California but again, those tracks were synthetic. Most trainers will tell you that the track makes no difference, but that’s nothing more than “coach speak”.

But Colonel John will be making his first start on conventional dirt at Churchill Downs, which like many of the horses in this races, makes him hard to handicap.

Going by bloodlines, his family tree indicates that he should be able to handle the track and given the lack of other evidence with some of the other horses, this at least gives his case some support.

It’s just there isn’t conclusive proof that he can handle the change of surfaces in stride but that evidence might come this Saturday.

Vist BetUS for more odds and info about 134th Kentucky Derby.

Keep checking the Locker Room all through the Triple Crown season, as we will cover the trainers, horses and jockeys in each race. You can get your early Kentucky Derby Odds at Churchill Downs bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook in the Future / props section, under Horse Futures: 2008 Kentucky Derby Betting.