The Kentucky Derby, the fastest two minutes in sports, is Saturday. Mike Diliberto with the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots believes the race is wide open since the favorite, Omaha Beach, won't be running.
“Omaha Beach, in all honesty, he was going to be my pick. He was the horse I thought was doing the best of everybody. Everything seemed to be moving right for him,” Diliberto said. “I think that really throws this race up to a coin flip among six or seven horses.”
Still, Diliberto has his eye one on horse in particular.
“I'm leaning towards the unknown horse in there, Maximum Security. This is a colt that fell through the cracks with all the experts earlier in his career,” Diliberto explained. “All he's done is run away from everyone he's ever run against.”
Maximum Security, in the No. 7 position, has 8-1 odds.
“Granted, he wasn't running against the toughest competition in his first three starts,” Diliberto admits. “Then he came back in the Florida Derby, which has been one of the strongest preps for the Kentucky Derby – in fact, three of the last six of the Kentucky Derby won the Florida Derby – and this colt won the Florida Derby by three and a half lengths last time out.”