Ricky's Top 10 Kentucky Derby Contenders - 3/3/21

It's that time of year again. The snow is melting, the birds are flying back North, and Kentucky Derby prep races are underway. We are starting to get a clear picture of which three-year-olds will be running on the first Saturday in May. Impressive wins by both Greatest Honour and Essential Quality last weekend in their prep races. We are finally done with the 10 point races and are moving on to the 50 and 100 point races starting this upcoming weekend.

 

I like to make this list once per year between February and March to give an idea of where I have horses ranked as they begin this year as 3-year-olds.  Last year in February, I went out on a limb and had ranked Authentic my top horse over the likes of Maxfield and Tiz The Law.  Authentic ended up having a career year, winning both the Kentucky Derby and Breeders Cup Classic.  Let's hope I can peg a few top-notch horses early on for 2021.

 

Rank	Horse
1.	Caddo River (16-1)
2.	Essential Quality (6-1)
3.	Medina Spirit (45-1)
4.	Concert Tour (16-1)
5.	Highly Motivated (35-1)
6.	Life Is Good (7-1)
7.	Greatest Honour (7-1)
8.	Mandaloun (22-1)
9.	Keepmeinmind (35-1)
10.	Prevalence (27-1)

Odds courtesy of Circa Sports

 

Atop my list is Caddo River.  There's no denying this horse has all the buzz surrounding him because of his eye-popping wins in his last 2 starts.  In those two wins, Caddo River won by a combined 19.5 lengths.  His most recent win was January 22 in the Smarty Jones where Caddo River took the field gate to wire to win by 10 lengths.  While most people don't have this horse ranked as high as I do, this horse has finished ahead of Greatest Honour TWICE when they were maiden two-year-olds.  Greatest Honor is in most people's top 3, but I am failing to see who that horse beat.

 

Essential Quality had a great weekend at Oaklawn Park in the Southwest slop.  Making a power full move to beat both Jackie's Warrier (who should truly run sprints) and Spielberg, this horse has just about cemented himself as both a deserving early favorite and runner in the Kentucky Derby. This horse is now 4 for 4 in his career and will look to run in one more race at Oaklawn before heading to Kentucky.

 

One last highlight - I have Concert Tour sitting at 4th currently.  This horse has been lightly raced and I have some concerns about distance.  Currently, CT hasn't run over 7 furlongs, but in his last start, he made a tactical move to beat an opponent at the wire.  I know this horse can get a little more distance, but I'm gonna need to see one more race at a route distance before moving him higher.

 

Interested in betting on any of the horses I have in my top 10?  Click this link to find out where you can bet in your state!