More than 50 years after his Triple Crown win, Secretariat’s bloodline remains in nearly every horse in the 20-horse 2024 Kentucky Derby field at Churchill Downs. All but two 2024 Kentucky Derby horses (T O Password and Endlessly) have pedigrees tracing back to Secretariat. In addition, Honor Marie and Forever Young have Secretariat twice within their five-generation pedigree. Pedigree is often a popular aspect of how people make their 2024 Kentucky Derby predictions, so how should Secretariat’s bloodline affect your 2024 Kentucky Derby betting strategy? Forever Young is 10-1 and Honor Marie is 20-1 in the latest 2024 Kentucky Derby odds, so should you include either of them in 2024 Kentucky Derby bets when the race runs at Churchill Downs on Saturday at 6:57 p.m. ET?
Fierceness is the 5-2 favorite to win Kentucky Derby 150. With the Kentucky Derby annually presenting the toughest handicapping challenge of the year, you’ll want to see what CBS Sports analyst Tim Doyle has to say before making any 2024 Kentucky Derby picks, considering he crushed the Kentucky Derby last year.
The 41-year-old Doyle says he has been betting horses since he was 12, having grown up less than 20 miles from both Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. He prefers to play multirace wagers, from doubles to Pick 6s. And in 2020, he had the biggest score of his life, hitting a $150,000 Pick 5 at Oaklawn Park.
During last year’s Triple Crown, Doyle was on fire. He correctly called 15-1 longshot Mage to win the Kentucky Derby and 8-1 longshot Arcangelo to win the Belmont Stakes.
For the first leg of the Triple Crown, Doyle has handicapped the 2024 Kentucky Derby lineup, made his picks and constructed his best bets. You can head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2024 Kentucky Derby predictions
One surprise: Doyle is completely fading Sierra Leone, even though he is one of the top favorites at 3-1 in the 2024 Kentucky Derby odds. Sierra Leone enters Derby Fay 2024 off a victory at the Blue Grass Stakes and even though it’s one of the most high-profile races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule, no horse since Strike the Gold in 1991 won the Kentucky Derby after taking the Blue Grass Stakes.
Sierra Leone has three victories in four career races. He finished second to Dornoch, who is running in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, in his lone loss. Sierra Leone paced himself towards the back of the field in the Blue Grass Stakes before making a late run and emerging with the victory. His 2024 Kentucky Derby post draw, No. 2 by the rail, could make it more challenging to get to the outside for a late run, especially in a 20-horse field. With the top 3-year-old horses all bunched together for the Run for the Roses, Doyle thinks Sierra Leone’s price isn’t worth playing in 2024 Kentucky Derby bets. See who else to fade here.
Another curveball: He is high on the chances of Japanese invader Forever Young, even though he’s a 10-1 longshot. The Japanese-bred horse has yet to lose a race and is one of two 2024 Kentucky Derby horses with a perfect record. His most recent triumph was a dominant victory at the UAE Derby in late March. That race had a distance of 1 3/16 miles, closer in length to the Kentucky Derby 2024 than any other race on the prep schedule.
With impressive speed figures and a proven trainer in his corner, Doyle expects big things from Forever Young on race day. “This Japan-bred was wide throughout his UAE Derby win, and it didn’t bother him at all. So much of the Derby is the right trip, and this horse has proven time and time again that he can be wide and lose ground without it making a difference,” Doyle told SportsLine. You can see all of Doyle’s 2024 Kentucky Derby bets here.
How to make 2024 Kentucky Derby picks
Moreover, Doyle’s top pick is a horse who “will be in position from the jump.” He’s also high on a massive double-digit longshot who “can navigate through other horses.” Doyle is including these horses in his 2024 Kentucky Derby bets, and so should you. He’s sharing which 2024 Kentucky Derby horses to back at SportsLine.
So who wins the 2024 Kentucky Derby, and what double-digit longshot is a must-back at Churchill Downs? Visit SportsLine to see Doyle’s picks for the Kentucky Derby 2024, all from the horse racing expert who called the winner of last year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and find out.
