Kentucky Derby Exotic Bets – Exacta & Trifecta Picks for 2025

• The 2025 Kentucky Derby takes place Saturday, May 4, at 6:57 pm ET
• Journalism is currently a +300 favorite
• See the best Kentucky Derby exotic bets for the 151st edition of the Run for the Roses

The 151st running of the Kentucky Derby takes place this evening at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. Post time is scheduled for 6:57 pm ET and, on the afternoon of raceday, Journalism is holding strong as the +300 favorite to win in the 19-horse field (which say #4 Rodriguez and #10 Grande scratched earlier in the week).

Below, I will run down my favorite Kentucky Derby exotic bets for 2025, but first, here is the current field and odds for the remaining 19 horses.

Field for the 151st Kentucky Derby

1. Citizen Bull (+2000)
2. Neoequos (+3000)
3. Final Gambit (+3000)
4. Rodriguez (+1200)
5. American Promise (+3000)
6. Admire Daytona (+3000)
7. Luxor Cafe (+1500)
8. Journalism (+300)
9. Burnham Square (+1200)
10. Grande (+2000)
11. Flying Mohawk (+3000)
12. East Avenue (+2000)
13. Publisher (+2000)
14. Tiztastic (+2000)
15. Render Judgment (+3000)
16. Coal Battle (+3000)
17. Sandman (+600)
18. Sovereignty (+500)
19. Chunk of Gold (+3000)
20. Owen Almighty (+3000)
21. Baeza (+1200)

As mentioned, both Rodriguez and Grande were scratched, leaving 19 horses in the field as of Saturday morning. Besides Journalism, only two other horses are shorter than +1000 in the 2025 Kentucky Derby odds: #18 Sovereignty at +500 and #17 Sandman at +600.

Kentucky Derby Exacta Picks

• $2 Exacta: Citizen Bull + Publisher
• $4 Exacta each way: Luxor Cafe + TizTastic

For my exacta bets, I’m going to tail SBD experts Darren Cooper and Zach Reger. Cooper has pegged #1 Citizen Bull (+2000) as his best value bet to win the Kentucky Derby and #13 Publisher (+2000) as his best bet to place. A $5 exacta on these two horses to win and place, respectively, would pay out $114.24 if it hits.

My second exacta play tails Reger’s two Kentucky Derby longshot picks – #7 Luxor Cafe (+1500) and #14 TizTastic (+2000). A $4 each way exacta bet on Luxor Cafe and TizTastic would payout $331.86 if they finish Luxor Cafe win, TizTasitc show, and $323.28 if Tiztastic takes the win and Luxor Cafe finishes second.

Kentucky Derby Trifecta Picks

• $10 Trifecta: Journalism + Sovereignty + Sandman

For the 2025 Kentucky Derby trifecta picks, I’m going to go super chalky, to counteract the longshots I have in my exactas. In this exacta, I have pre-race favorite Journalism winnings, second-favorite Sovereignty placing, and third-favorite Sandman showing. A $10 trifecta bet with these three horses would payout a whopping $816.30 if they finish in that exact order.

A lot of pundits are excited by the prospect of this Derby being more “wide open” than many recent races. The cumulative implied win probability of the top-three favorites (i.e. the three horses in my trifecta) adds up to just 55.96%. Meaning there’s nearly a 50/50 chance (according to the odds) that the winner isn’t a top-three betting favorite. But in terms of my trifecta, that means I can put the three “best” horses in the field in the top three positions and get massive +760 odds on the whole thing.