Blind Luck is top individual in Oaks Future

Three-time Grade 1 winner BLIND LUCK (Pollard's Vision) is the favored

individual filly in Churchill Downs' 2010 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager (KOFW), but

oddsmaker Mike Battaglia believes that the mutuel field, or "all others," will

be the favored betting interest when the three-day pool wraps up early on Sunday

evening.

Battaglia installed "all others" -- a betting interest that includes all

three-year-old fillies other than the 23 individual betting interests in the

Oaks Future pool -- as the narrow 4-1 choice in the 2010 pool. Blind Luck,

expected to be a heavy favorite to score her fourth Grade 1 win in Saturday's

Santa Anita Oaks (G1), is close behind as the 5-1 second choice, and rising star

AMEN HALLELUJAH (Montbrook), an impressive winner of last week's Davona Dale

(G2) at Gulfstream, is next at 6-1.

The three-day pool opens at noon (EST) Friday and provides the only

opportunity for racing fans to place an early wager on three-year-old fillies

that are contenders for the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks (G1), America's premier race

for three-year-old fillies. The 1 1/8-mile race is scheduled for Friday, April

30 -- the eve of the $2 million Kentucky Derby (G1). Wagering in the pool will

conclude Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager pool runs concurrently with Pool 2 of the 2010

Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which also opens at noon Friday. The Derby pool

will close on Sunday at 6 p.m., 30 minutes prior to the end of Oaks pool

betting.

The Oaks Future bet provides fans with an opportunity to wager on contenders

for the Kentucky Oaks weeks in advance of the race at odds that could be more

attractive than those they would receive on the day of the race. The Kentucky

Oaks Future bet is a $2 minimum "win" wager. There are no scratches and no

refunds in the Oaks Future Bet. If Churchill Downs officials determine that

injury or illness will prevent one of the individual fillies in the Kentucky

Oaks Future Wager pool from participating in the race, wagering on that betting

interest will be suspended immediately.

Eventual Preakness (G1) winner and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra

(Medaglia d'Oro) won last year's Kentucky Oaks by a record margin of 20 1/4

lengths, but she was not the favorite in the 2009 Oaks Future Bet. The bettor's

choice in the pool was Justwhistledixie (Dixie Union), who closed as the 5-2

favorite over Rachel Alexandra (3-1) and Stardom Bound (Tapit) (9-2).

CHRISTINE DAAE (Giant's Causeway), an impressive allowance winner last week

at Gulfstream Park, is listed 8-1. Other respected members of this year's KOFW

pool include 2009 two-year-old filly champion and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

(G1) winner SHE BE WILD (Offlee Wild); EVENING JEWEL (Northern Afleet), a close

runner-up to Blind Luck in the Las Virgenes (G1) at Santa Anita; and SWITCH

(Quiet American), a close third in the Las Virgenes.  Each of those fillies

is listed at 12-1. 

Information and real time odds on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager are

available at www.kentuckyoaks.com, the official event Web Site.

2010

Kentucky Oaks Future Wager