Betting Picks

Despite the fact the 2018 Kentucky Oaks is expected to include two strong favorites in Midnight Bisou and Monomoy Girl, a look back at 2017 can provide hope for the longshots. Last year, favored Paradise Woods finished 11th, while second favorite Farrell was dead last of 14. Able Tasman won at odds of 9-1, and the rest of the top four were all in double-digits.

With the same ownership group, trainer and jockey as 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, Vino Rosso will be trying to score a Derby double for his connections this year on the first Saturday in May. After struggling through his first two races of 2018, Vino Rosso finally put it together to win the (G1) Wood Memorial Stakes and punch his ticket into the Derby starting gate.

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, it isn't so much about how the West was won as it is about who will win the West. You can make a legitimate case for all four of the remaining teams being the last one left standing. The Nashville Predators were last spring's finalist, while the San Jose Sharks were there a year earlier. And you can't discount the Winnipeg Jets or Vegas Golden Knights.

Unlike the 2018 Kentucky Derby, which features several legitimate contenders, the 2018 Kentucky Oaks is shaping up to be a two-horse battle between Midnight Bisou and Monomoy Girl. Those two sit first and second on the Oaks qualifying list, and have dominated their prep races. Here's a look at those two favorites, and a third thrown in for good measure.

Twenty-eight. That's a number that haunts the Cleveland Browns every bit as much as the 0-16 record they posted during the 2017 NFL season. Since 1999, the Brown have gone through 28 starting quarterbacks. That's a lot of QBs, on average a new one every 10.85 games. And there's Cleveland with the first pick in the NFL draft, trying to decide which QB to draft.

The winner of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and the Two-Year-Old Horse of the Year, Good Magic has been under a lot of scrutiny this spring on the road to the 2018 Kentucky Derby. He was a 12-1 oversight back in November when he won the BC Juvenile, and he'll be in that same range come Derby Day.

Along with Justify, Magnum Moon is the second horse to make the 2018 Kentucky Derby field who did not race as a two-year-old in 2017. Given that a horse unraced at two has not won the Derby in more than 130 years, these horses are usually a toss for handicappers of the race. But this year, both of these horses are legitimate contenders to win.

Although almost all of the 20 horses set to race in the 2018 KY Derby were born and bred in Kentucky, the Derby almost always sets off a debate over West coast versus East coast horses. As a betting angle, horses that have been doing most of their prep racing in California have had an edge in the past few years.

The winner of three straight races to start his career, California-based Bolt d'Oro appeared to have a lock on the Champion Two-Year-Old Colt title in 2017 until running third in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He came into the 2018 season with an eye on redemption and a Kentucky Derby title and he remains a solid contender on the first Saturday of May.