Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby (G1) four times including in 2015 with American Pharoah, who went on to win the Triple Crown, and he has another good shot in 2018.
The Baffert trained Mourinho captured Monday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park, picking up 10 Road to the Kentucky Derby points, with his futures price taking a plunge.
Horseplayers could have received 100-1 odds on the colt before the Smarty Jones, and after his 3¼ length victory his odds have been slashed to 20-1.
The colt was a $625,000 purchase at auction, by 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and out of the stakes placed mare Sandi’s Ready.
He broke his maiden in his debut, then ran second in the Speakeasy at six furlongs and the Bob Hope (G3) at seven furlongs.
Next up for the talented colt likely will be the $900,000 Rebel (G2) at Oaklawn Park, a race Baffert has won six times in the last eight years.
On Saturday at Fair Grounds, Instilled Regard picked up 10 points toward entry into the Run for the Roses with his win in the $200,000 LeComte (G3).
His Kentucky Derby odds have dropped from 25-1 to 16-1 after his victory. The colt is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer and had previously run second in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1), picking up four Derby points.
At Aqueduct on Saturday, Firenze Fire won the $150,000 Jerome, bouncing back from a seventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) last November at Del Mar.
The Jason Servis trainee won the Sanford (G3) and Champagne (G1) last year and now has 20 Derby points, second only to Juvenile winner Good Magic, who has 24 points.
Firenze Fire saw his betting odds for the Kentucky Derby go from 33-1 to 25-1 after his win on Saturday.
Bolt d’Oro remains the early betting favorite for the Kentucky Derby at 7-1. The Mick Ruis trainee was the beaten chalk in the Juvenile where he had to settle for third.
He won his first three career starts including a pair of Grade 1 races—the Del Mar Futurity and the Frontrunner.
The Chad Brown trained Good Magic, who won the Juvenile as a maiden last fall, is the second choice in early Derby betting at 10-1. The colt ran second in his debut and then was the runner up in the Champagne.
The next Road to the Kentucky Derby points races are coming up on Saturday, February 3. There are three points races—the $150,000 Robert B. Lewis (G3) at Santa Anita, the $250,000 Withers (G3) at Aqueduct and the $350,000 Holy Bull (G2) at Gulfstream Park.