2025 Kentucky Derby horses, futures, odds, date, preview: Expert who hit 10 Derby-Oaks Doubles says picks

The 2025 Kentucky Derby will mark the 151st edition of the Run for the Roses. Churchill Downs will be the focus of the sports world come Saturday, May 3, and Citizen Bull, who has won four of his five starts, is 9-1 in the latest 2025 Kentucky Derby odds. However, Barnes, a half-brother of Citizen Bull, is the 8-1 favorite among the prospective 2025 Kentucky Derby horses. There are still plenty of prep races to go that will shape the 2025 Kentucky Derby field for the first Triple Crown race of the year. The results of these will constantly shuffle the Kentucky Derby 2025 odds, but which contenders should you jump on currently? Before making any 2025 Kentucky Derby picks, be sure to see the horse racing predictions and futures bets from SportsLine’s elite horse racing expert Jody Demling.

A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling has nailed the Kentucky Oaks-Derby double 11 times in the last 16 years. He also predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last seven years and called 10 of the last 20 Preakness winners, including in 2023, when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta, as well as the trifecta in 2024. Anyone who has followed him on those picks is up huge.

Now, with the 2025 Kentucky Derby futures already on the board, Demling is sharing his picks and 2025 Kentucky Derby predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.

Top 2025 Kentucky Derby predictions

One of Demling’s surprising 2025 Kentucky Derby picks: He is fading John Hancock, even though he is undefeated and coming off a win at the 2025 Sam F. Davis Stakes. That win doesn’t have the luster it had previously after the race was downgraded from a Grade 3 Stakes race to Listed status.

John Hancock does have a Derby-winning trainer in Brad Cox, but Cox’s 2021 victory only came after the horse who finished first, Medina Spirit, was disqualified. Cox has had eight other Kentucky Derby starters and none of them have finished in the top two. Additionally, John Hancock’s sire, Constitution, appeared to top out at 1 1/8 miles after he finished dead last among six horses in his lone start longer than that distance. That’s a red flag for John Hancock for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby, so there are better options to utilize Kentucky Derby 2025 bets on. See which other 2025 Kentucky Derby horses to avoid at SportsLine.

Another stunner: Demling is high on Burnham Square, even though he is a 15-1 longshot in the latest Kentucky Derby odds 2025. Australian trainer Ian Wilkes was an assistant under hall-of-famer Carl Nafzger when Street Sense won the 2007 Kentucky Derby and he collected a high-profile win of his own at the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Fort Larned beating Mucho Macho Man by half a length. Now he’s hoping to make his first Triple Crown breakthrough with Burnham Square.

This son of Liam’s Map out of Scat Daddy mare Linda debuted at Keeneland in October, raced the following month at Churchill Downs and finally broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park in December. He followed that up with another win at Gulfstream Park in the 2025 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 1 to collect 20 points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby 2025 standings. Scat Daddy won the 2007 Fountain of Youth Stakes and the 2007 Florida Derby to earn his way into that year’s Kentucky Derby and Burnham Square is likely to follow in his grandsire’s footsteps as a probable entrant for those Florida prep races. See which other horses to back at SportsLine.

How to make 2025 Kentucky Derby picks, bets

Demling is especially high on an epic double-digit longshot who “keeps getting better and better.” Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2025 Kentucky Derby leaderboard, over at SportsLine.

Which horse wins the Kentucky Derby 2025, and which double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2025 Kentucky Derby odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Demling’s picks for the Kentucky Derby, all from the expert who has nailed 11 Derby-Oaks doubles.