Who has the better infield? Indy 500 or Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby At Indiana Grand Casinos

The Indiana Derby will be historic in two ways.

Indiana Grand Racing & Casino The 233,000-square-foot facility features 2,000 high-tech slot machines and electronic table games including Blackjack, Roulette and Craps. The state-of-the-art Poker Room offers the best in Texas Hold’em. Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, Shelbyville, IN. 76,938 likes 679 talking about this 184,867 were here. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing at racetracks and 21 or older to gamble at.

Because of the revised thoroughbred schedule, Wednesday’s race at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino will earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby (Sept 5.). Moreover, the Indiana Derby will be the state’s first consequential sports event of the pandemic to be held with fans in attendance.

Estimated post time for the 26th running of the $300,000 Indiana Derby is 7:45 p.m. The race for 3-year-olds will be televised by WNDY-23, with coverage beginning at 7:30.

Next weekend will be the 2017 version of the Indiana Derby. Friday afternoon and Saturday night at the Indiana Grand Casino and Track in Shelbyville will be the site of the top horse racing card in the United States. Over a million dollars in purses will be awarded with the Indiana Derby race on Saturday as the highlight event. The Indiana Derby will be historic in two ways. Because of the revised thoroughbred schedule, Wednesday’s race at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino will earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. Because of the revised thoroughbred schedule, Wednesday’s race at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino will earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby (Sept 5.). Moreover, the Indiana Derby will be.

First of 12 races on the program is at 2:20 p.m. The $200,000 Indiana Oaks will precede the Indiana Derby in race 11 at about 7:10.

Seating capacity is reduced, and fans are encouraged to wear face masks in all locations. Face masks are required indoors except for those consuming food or beverages. Pari-mutuel teller windows and self-service betting machines will be arranged for social distancing, as will outdoor viewing areas.

Indiana Derby winner will receive 20 points toward qualification to the Kentucky Derby, followed by eight for second, four for third and two for fourth. Also, for the first time, the race moves to 1 1/8 miles from 1 1/16.

Winning Impression is a slight favorite at 3-1. In its most recent start, the gelding finished fourth at 20-1 odds in the May 2 Arkansas Derby. Of the three horses that beat Winning Impression, two are sidelined and the other is running elsewhere.

The horse, which represents West Point Thoroughbreds, drew post 9 out of 10. Winning Impression has thrived at longer distances. The horse resembles Commanding Curve, which finished second to California Chrome in the 2014 Kentucky Derby at 37-1.

“It’s a good race, it’s a legitimate race,” West Point Thoroughbreds president Terry Finley said in a news release. “There are no superstars in there. But the horses who figure to run well in here are very, very similar to what we are at this point in their careers. If we run well, we’ll have a little stronger circle around the first Saturday in September.”

Julien Leparoux will be Winning Impression’s jockey, as he was for the Arkansas Derby. Leparoux, riding Tempers Rising, will seek a record fifth victory in the Indiana Oaks. He also will try to be the first jockey to win a Derby/Oaks double twice.

Close behind Winning Impression in the betting line is Major Fed at 7-2 and Shared Sense at 4-1. Major Fed, the son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, is named for 20-time Grand Slam singles winner Roger Federer.

Because of recent COVID-19 positive tests at Lone Star Park near Dallas and suspension of that racing season, Indiana Grand has banned transfer of jockeys, exercise riders and grooms from that facility.

INDIANA DEBRY ODDS

Complete field, by post position with odds:

1, No Getting Over Me, 12-1

2, Extraordinary, 10-1

3, Taishan, 6-1

4, Earner, 8-1

5, Shared Sense, 4-1

6, Background, 20-1

7, Juggernaut, 7-1

8, Major Fed, 7-2

9, Winning Impression, 3-1

10, Necker Island, 20-1

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Kentucky Derby At Indiana Grand Casino Buffet

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Revised schedule means Indiana Derby is qualifier for Kentucky Derby

Trainer Brad Cox’s horses win Indiana Derby, Indiana Oaks

SHELBYVILLE – Social distancing might not apply to horses, but Shared Sense followed protocol.

The 3-year-old pulled away to win by three lengths Wednesday night at the 26th running of the Indiana Derby. Stewards quickly disallowed an objection on behalf of runner-up Major Fed.

Shared Sense’s jockey, Florent Geroux, conceded there was “a little bit of a bump” with Major Fed before the quarter pole but that no one was endangered.

“If I beat him a head, maybe we can make a case for it,” Geroux said. “But when my horse ran going away like this, it was pretty clear there was not too much going on there.”

Major Fed’s jockey, James Graham, said Shared Sense knocked his horse sideways. Major Fed was pinched at the start and went into the first turn in last place.

“If he doesn’t slam me, I think we keep going,” Graham said. “But after you knock a horse out that’s trying to go forward . . . you start picking ‘em up, swing by one horse, run around his outside, then he slams you.”

Shared Sense covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.46 and paid $7.60, 4.80 and 3.20. He went off as a 5-2 favorite. Necker Island was third and Earner fourth.

Shared Sense was near the back of the pack early, trailing Earner and Taishan. After the horses bunched on the far turn, Shared Sense moved a head in front of Necker Island and then distanced himself from the field.

The $300,000 race was going to be historic before it was even run because it came during a pandemic and for the first time earned qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.

Wednesday’s handle was $5,979,952 at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, smashing the record of $4.1 million set on last year’s derby day. Wagering on the Indiana Derby amounted to $1,026,395.

Moreover, Geroux became the second jockey to win an Indiana Derby/Indiana Oaks sweep for the same trainer, Brad Cox. Geroux won Wednesday’s $200,000 Indiana Oaks for 3-year-old fillies by five lengths aboard Shedaresthedevil.

(Martin Garcia won such a double in 2010 on the Bob Baffert-trained Always a Princess and Preakness Stakes winner Lookin at Lucky.)

Capacity was limited to 50% on two levels at Indiana Grand (fewer than 1,500 fans), masks were mandated indoors, and outdoor attendance was spread out.

Major Fed earned eight points toward the Kentucky Derby, which was moved to Sept. 5 in the revised racing schedule. With 38 total points, he is positioned to qualify, according to trainer Greg Foley.

Oddly, Shared Sense has something of a Triple Crown pedigree even though it was not nominated for the Triple Crown Series. The horse was sired by a Derby winner, Street Sense, out of a mare by a Preakness winner, Bernardini, and the mare’s broodmare sire was a Belmont Stakes winner, Touch Gold.

It would cost $45,000 to nominate Shared Sense. Before the pandemic, cost for an entire Triple Crown was $200,000.

Shared Sense is owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin, which has an operation in Kentucky. The Indiana Derby victory was worth 20 points.

Cox said Shared Sense is at his best on dry dirt and at the 1 1/8-mile distance. In the horse’s previous outing , he was second in an allowance race June 13 at Churchill Downs.

“There’s still a few races left to pick up Derby points,” Cox said. “We’ll see how he comes out of this race, and we’ll map out a plan for the rest of the year. Godolphin is great to work for. They put the horse first. They’ll come up with a game plan for us moving forward, and we’ll try to execute it.”

Kentucky Derby At Indiana Grand Casino Entertainment

It was the first start in the Indiana Derby for Cox and his first Indiana Oaks victory. The trainer maintains a stable at Indiana Grand.

“It was good to mark these two races off,” he said. “This place has been very good to us throughout the years. We’ve won a lot of the races on the undercard and had success on this day here. And to pick these off, it means a lot.”

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Shared Sense wins Indiana Derby and enters Kentucky Derby discussion