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Todd Pletcher is an award-winning trainer who will try to make history when the 2025 Kentucky Derby gets underway on Saturday. Pletcher is a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, having horses win the Run of the Roses in 2010 and 2016. Only six other trainers in history have won the Kentucky Derby at least three times. Pletcher will get another shot at joining that illustrious group at the Kentucky Derby 2025. Post time for the 2025 Kentucky Derby is 6:57 p.m. ET. Grande, a Pletcher-trained horse who’s coming off a runner-up finish at the Wood Memorial, is a 20-1 longshot, according to the latest 2025 Kentucky Derby odds.

Journalism is the 3-1 favorite, followed by Sovereignty (5-1) and Sandman (6-1) as 2025 Kentucky Derby favorites. 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 on betting sites like FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET is up huge.

Now, with the 2025 Kentucky Derby post positions set and odds on the board, Demling is sharing his 2025 Kentucky Derby betting 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 Rodriguez (12-1), who barely cracks the top 10 finishers in his 2025 Kentucky Derby projections. Rodriguez is coming off a win in the Wood Memorial, which followed him finishing in the money in his other two graded stakes races. The horses who won those two starts, Journalism and Citizen Bull, are in the 2025 Kentucky Derby field. Thus, he will, again, have to face horses who handily beat him earlier this year.

Also, it’s worth noting that Rodriguez’ two career victories both came on at least 35 days of rest. Both of his stakes defeats, however, came after he had just 28 days off. With Rodriguez’ last start coming on April 5, he will have 28 days of rest for the Kentucky Derby 2025. Thus, he may still be a week away from being at his best, another reason to look elsewhere with horse racing bets. See which other 2025 Kentucky Derby horses to avoid at SportsLine.

Another stunner: Demling is high on Luxor Cafe, even though he is a 15-1 longshot in the Kentucky Derby odds 2025.Luxor Cafe arrived at Churchill Downs on April 23, giving him plenty of time to acclimate to his surroundings.

Luxor Cafe is the 3-year-old son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, so he has the pedigree needed to compete at Churchill Downs. Luxor Cafe is trained by Hori Noriyuki and is coming off a comfortable victory in his last race. He won by five lengths in the concluding leg of the designated series in Japan, the Fukuryu Stakes at Nakayama on March 29. He’s won each of his last four starts, making him a valuable longshot wager to include in Kentucky Derby bets. See which other horses to back at SportsLine.

How to make 2025 Kentucky Derby picks, bets

Demling is especially high on a colossal double-digit longshot who is “generating buzz on the backside.” 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 huge 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.

2025 Kentucky Derby odds, post positions