Kentucky Derby 2025 predictions, betting odds: Win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta expert picks

Horse racing bettors who do a deep dive into 2025 Kentucky Derby betting trends may discover a link between rest time and winning the Run for the Roses. Entering the 2025 Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs, the last three winners had exactly 35 days in between their final start and the Kentucky Derby. This year, May 3 is 35 days after March 29. Half-a-dozen horses in the 2025 Kentucky Derby field last ran on that date, but not the 3-1 favorite, Journalism. He last raced a week later on April 5, and only one horse over the last 10 years has won the Kentucky Derby on exactly 28 days’ rest.

Does this affect how you view Journalism, despite his standing atop the 2025 Kentucky Derby odds? How should you feel about the likes of Sovereignty (5-1), Sandman (6-1), Luxor Cafe (15-1) or Publisher (20-1), each of whom hit that 35-day marker, with your 2025 Kentucky Derby projections? With so much to consider while making your 2025 Kentucky Derby picks, a little expert help can go a long way.

Horses can have many different colors, with most falling under some shade of brown. These could be further classified into bay, chestnut and other variations, and Kentucky Derby history has overwhelmingly favored these horses when it comes to champions. Entering the 2025 Kentucky Derby, 138 of the 150 winning horses have been a shade of brown. The dozen outliers had either gray/roan coats (eight winners) or black coats (four). There are no 2025 Kentucky Derby horses with a black coat color in the 2025 Kentucky Derby field, but there are three gray/roan: Final Gambit, Sandman and Chunk of Gold. The other 17 Kentucky Derby contenders all fall somewhere on the brown color spectrum.

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.

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 2023 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 2023 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.