Kentucky Derby betting odds list Line of David as one of the longshots to win the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 1st. His Kentucky Derby odds are 20-1 and those odds may drift higher before post time. Kentucky Derby betting facts indicate that Line of David will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano who is the nation’s leading rider in purse earnings this year. It is an unfortunate break for regular rider Jon Court who would have had his first Kentucky Derby mount. Court was aboard Line of David for his win in the Arkansas Derby that got the horse into the Kentucky Derby. Trainer John Sadler has decided to go with Bejarano who recently won the riding title at the Santa Anita winter-spring meet with 94 victories. Bejarano had ridden Line of David to two victories in California. “We felt for this race we would go with our home-team player,” Sadler. “He’s one of my primary riders in California.”
While Sadler made the jockey change to Bejarano he may have been better off with Court who won in wire to wire fashion aboard the horse in the Arkansas Derby. It appears the only chance Line of David has in Kentucky Derby odds is to go to the lead and hope to hang on.
Line of David has a pedigree that is really pointed toward speed. His sire is Lion Heart who ran second to Smarty Jones in the 2004 Kentucky Derby. Lion of David is his first graded stakes winner. Line of David’s damsire Capote was a champion two year old in 1986. Capote’s daughters have produced seven stakes winners but at short distances.
Line of David likes to go the front and hold on. In the Kentucky Derby that style almost never wins. It has even less of a chance of working when the race involves a number of other speed horses as will be the case this year. The horse made it work in the Arkansas Derby but just barely. This horse would be a surprise winner in Kentucky Derby betting considering the style he runs and because he is unlikely to get an easy lead in this year’s Derby. He will have appealing odds of 20-1 or more but his pedigree and his overall stats don’t have the look of a Kentucky Derby winner.