Kentucky Oaks Handicapping Picks
Horse racing gamblers are you looking for 2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick & Handicapping Odds…plus some predictions? Need some advice on who to take? The 2020 Kentucky Oaks is set for Friday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Here’s a preview of our top contenders.
Kentucky Oaks Preview and Prediction
- Race: Kentucky Oaks
- Purse: $1,250,000
- Track: Churchill Downs
- Date: September 4
- Post Time: 5:45 PM (ET)
- Live: Kentucky Oaks Odds: Click Here
2020 Kentucky Oaks Handicapping
The historically long run up to the Kentucky Derby for 2020 is over, and finally the first Saturday in September will bring us The Run For The Roses. What hasn’t changed is the traditional running of the Kentucky Oaks prior to the Derby, and Friday will see a field of nine fillies go to the gate.
On paper the 1 1/8 miles Oaks is a two-horse race between the blazing fast Gamine and the ultra-consistent Swiss Skydiver, but the field also includes several fillies that have shown a lot of recent improvement and could offer some value with a breakthrough performance.
Odds listed here are provided by Bovada’s racebook.
2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick & Handicapping: Gamine Race Odds: 2-3
Favoured in the pre-race odds, Gamine didn’t race as a two-year-old and so comes to the Oaks with a relatively light, but impressive, resume. After winning her career debut at Santa Anita in March, she then crossed the line first in an allowance-level event at Oaklawn but was subsequently DQ’d for a medication issue.
Since then she’s made two more starts where she simply annihilated her competition, winning the (G1) Acorn Stakes and the (G1) Test Stakes by a combined 25 lengths. She’s been on the lead wire-to-wire in every one of her four lifetime races, but faces a bit of a distance challenge as this will be her first race beyond 1 1/16 miles.
The trainer is Bob Baffert, John Velazquez gets the riding assignment.
2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick & Handicapping: Swiss Skydiver Race Odds: 57-20
Something of a poster child for how horses improve from ages 2 to 3, Swiss Skydiver only had a maiden win – on the Churchill dirt – to her name from her first four career starts.
But since winning the (G2) Gulfstream Park Oaks in March she has been rolling, with three more wins in her next four starts, with her only defeat being a second-place run in the (G1) Blue Grass Stakes where she went up against males. She followed that up with a solid 6 1/2 length win over fillies in the (G1) Alabama Stakes.
She’s trained by Kenny McPeek, Tyler Gaffalione is tapped to ride.
2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick & Handicapping: Speech Race Odds: 9-1
Besides the top two, Speech is the only other filly in the race to record a plus-100 Brisnet speed figure. She’s done it twice, including last out when winning the (G1) Ashland Stakes, setting the track record for 1 1/16 miles in the process.
Never out of the money in seven lifetime starts, she gave Gamine all she could handle in that allowance race at Oaklawn back in March, finishing just a neck back and then picking up the win when that one was DQ’d.
Michael McCarthy trains, Javier Castallano will be in the saddle.
2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick & Handicapping: Hopeful Growth Race Odds: 33-1
After a somewhat disappointing fifth-place run two starts back in her graded-stakes debut, Hopeful Growth improved off that effort to win the (G3) Monmouth Oaks in her last start.
While she’s taking a big step up in class here, she does have one significant factor in her favour. According to Brisnet she has the fastest late-pace speed rating of the entire field, and that means the distance here should work to her advantage.
She’s trained by Anthony Margotta Jr., Manny Franco is the jock.
Here’s my 2020 Kentucky Oaks Free Pick.
I’ve been a fan of Swiss Skydiver for awhile now, and so I won’t be getting off her at this point. Coming in off the win in the 1 1/4 mile Alabama, she actually gets a cut back in distance here, and unlike a few others 1 1/8 miles shouldn’t be a concern. I’ll take her for the win.
There’s no doubt Gamine will be a tough beat, and my hope is that someone other than Swiss Skydiver will pressure her on the lead hard enough and long enough that she’ll falter in deep stretch and allow either Speech or Hopeful Growth to get by her. So I’ll play both of those under Swiss Skydiver in the exacta.
Full Field: Kentucky Oaks Betting Odds
- Gamine 2-3
- Swiss Skydiver 57-20
- Speech 9-1
- Donna Veloce 18-1
- Shedaresthedevil 20-1
- Hopeful Growth 33-1
- Tempers Rising 55-1
- Bayerness 66-1
- Dream Marie 66-1
What do you think of our 2020 Kentucky Oaks Race Odds & Predictions? Weigh in below with a comment. We welcome your feedback.
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