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Travis Kelce Parties with The Chainsmokers at Pre-Kentucky Derby Event
Get your bets in—the 2025 Kentucky Derby is quickly approaching.
As 2,000 horses and the 1,200 people who work with them prepare for one of the biggest sporting events of the year May 3, experts from FanDuel—the official sports betting partner of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby—are giving all the tips and tricks for watching and betting on, as FanDuel TV Racing Analyst Michael Joyce put it, “the most important race in the world.”
“It is a global phenomenon,” Joyce told E! News in an exclusive interview during Kentucky Oaks Day, the derby’s counterpart for only female horses. “It’s the one time of the year where the entire world is looking at American racing.”
And while the big race will have viewers around the world on the edge of their seat at 19 horses gallop around the track, some will be especially invested after placing their bets on who they think will come out on top.
“It's a very simple sport, whoever gets to the finish line first wins,” Joyce continued, emphasizing that there is no secret recipe to predicting which horses will perform well on race day. “They are 1,000-pound animals ridden by 110-pound men and women. They're going to do what they want to do.”
After all, with only 20 horses out of nearly 20,000 making it to the derby every year, each individual horse and trainer has their own story. And FanDuel hosts Simon Bray, Gabby Gaudet, Anthony Pascale and Christina Blacker have their eye on a few in particular.
“There's this horse called Cold Battle that's trained by Lonnie Bradley,” Bray noted, adding that the 70-year-old equestrian will be up against some serious competition. “He's just a Midwest cowboy. I mean, he's a deer in headlights here.”
Meanwhile, trainer Steve Asmussen—who has horses Tiztastic and Publisher competing in the race—has won nearly every big race except for the Derby.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
“He's the most winningest trainer in the history of all time,” Gaudet told E! of the 59-year-old. “Never won a Derby, but he is the winningest trainer of all time with over 10,000 wins.”
As for how trainers of all levels of experience prepare the morning of the big race? Terry Finley, owner of West Point Thoroughbreds, shed some light on the extensive process.
Starting at 4:30 a.m., trainers come in to clean the stalls before cleaning the horses, feeding them and getting them in their saddle to walk them around. Then, they take their competing horses to the racetrack, where a vet will check them out and clear them to race.
“They've got a big bed to lay down with and they've got their lunch,” Finley explained to E!, adding that by 10 o’clock, all that’s left to do is make sure the horses are relaxed and happy ahead of the high-pressure race. “They’re very well taken care of.”
The 151st Kentucky Derby is set to air Saturday, May 3, with coverage kicking off at 11:30 a.m. PT / 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
(E!, NBC and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)
—Reporting by Paul C.
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