By Emma Bowman
Jockeys walk through the paddock in a race before the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs on Saturday, in Louisville, Ky.
John Minchillo/AP
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John Minchillo/AP
On Saturday, Churchill Downs ushers in the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby, to kickoff the first race of the Triple Crown horse racing championship.
Starting at 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC will run Derby coverage from Louisville, leading up to the race’s start, with a post time scheduled for 6:34 p.m. The race usually lasts about two minutes. Coverage will also be streamed on NBC Sports Live.
While veteran Derby watchers aren’t pulling for any one frontrunner this year, right now the odds favor Always Dreaming and Irish War Cry.
Keep an eye out for potential Cinderella story, Patch, a one-eyed horse. He lost his left eye last year to inflammation — coincidentally, after he’d already been named. As ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards explained, a horse’s peripheral vision is vital, “so that they can see all the way around them, so he basically can only see half his world.”
Last year’s Derby winner was Nyquist, who held off a strong surge to the finish by Exaggerator. Third was Gun Runner and fourth, Mohaymen, none of which came as a big surprise — these horses were the top for betting choices.
And this year, there’s big money to win: It will feature a 20-horse field competing for a $2 million total purse.
For the first time in more than 30 years Tom Hammond will not host the Kentucky Derby. The 72-year-old award-winning broadcaster has handed the reins over to former ESPN sportscaster Mike Tirico, who will co-host with Bob Costas.