It hasn’t been the same since Tara and Johnny Credit: Courtesy of NBC Sports Group

So you’re going to a Kentucky Derby party, and you don’t know anything about horse racing? That’s okay. Nobody knows anything about horse racing. Most of the 150,000+ people who actually go to Churchill Downs to watch the race in person don’t know anything about horse racing; it’s all about the hats and mint juleps. But here are a few tips to get you through the horsey parts of the conversation.

It’s a big field; 20 horses will jostle a lot, so the start is important. But this is the longest race any of the favorites have been in, so the finish is more important.

Forte (pronounced “for-tay”) is the favorite at 3-1 in the early odds. He looked great winning the Florida Derby over some of the same horses he’ll see here.

Todd Pletcher is Forte’s trainer, but he has two other very good horses in the field as well: Tapit Trice is the second betting favorite at 5-1, and Kingsbarns is a sleeper at 12-1 – he’s only raced three times, but won them all. (His grandsire, Tapit, is also Tapit Trice’s sire, which I think makes him Tapit Trice’s half-uncle.) Pletcher has only won one Kentucky Derby in his long career, but this could be his second.

The other top trainer this year is Louisville native Brad Cox, whose leading contender Angel of Empire (8-1) starts right next to Forte, toward the outside. People also like Verifying, who has a lot of speed; starting way inside, he’ll have to get out fast. Tapit Trice beat him late in a great duel at the Blue Grass Stakes last month; they could go at it again.

UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake is a strong contender to become the first Japan-based horse to win here.

Practical Move may have the most speed, but may fade down the stretch, like his dad, Practical Joke.

“It hasn’t been the same since Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.” Score some style points by dropping that into the conversation. The duo’s gender-bendy four-year reign as the Derby’s “lifestyle analysts” was like what you’d get if you gave the assignment to John Waters. They may never be matched, but the “lifestyle” is still clearly the highlight of all but about two minutes of the broadcast. Steve Kornacki will do his best, but …

The Kentucky Derby

Saturday, May 6, on NBC – Hats, 11am-6:30pm; horses, 5:57-5:59pm

This article appears in May 5 • 2023.

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