Fierceness heavily favored in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 6

One week after storming to a 13 1/2-length victory in the Florida Derby (G1), reigning champion two-year-old male Fierceness closed as the decisive 5-2 favorite in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 6.

The final future wager pool in advance of the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1) opened for betting on Thursday and closed on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, before the three major preps. Sierra Leone closed as the 7-1 second choice in Pool 6, but his odds might have been shorter if his eye-catching 1 1/2-length Blue Grass (G1) triumph had come earlier in the afternoon.

Japan’s undefeated UAE Derby (G2) winner Forever Young closed as the 8-1 third choice, followed jointly by Louisiana Derby (G2) hero Catching Freedom (12-1), Gotham (G3) winner Deterministic (12-1), and Fountain of Youth (G2) victor Dornoch (12-1). Dornoch finished fourth in the Blue Grass, while Deterministic faltered to eighth place as an odds-on favorite in the Wood Memorial (G2).

After the three 12-1 shots, there was a gap in the odds to Blue Grass runner-up Just a Touch, who settled alongside “All Other Three-Year-Olds” at 22-1. Then came Wood Memorial seventh-place finisher Tuscan Sky (24-1), Louisiana Derby runner-up Honor Marie (26-1), Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up Just Steel (30-1), and Sunland Park Derby (G3) hero Stronghold (30-1), who won the Santa Anita Derby (G1) after Pool 6 closed.

Overlooked at 76-1 was Resilience, the Risen Star fourth-place finisher who posted a pace-tracking upset victory in the Wood Memorial. Society Man, who finished second in the Wood Memorial, closed at a staggering 793-1.

Rounding out the betting interests were Mystik Dan (35-1), Endlessly (37-1), Domestic Product (40-1), Seize the Grey (42-1), Be You (52-1), Track Phantom (53-1), Encino (63-1), Uncle Heavy (72-1), Top Conor (80-1), Hades (92-1), Catalytic (99-1), El Grande O (117-1), West Saratoga (121-1), T O Password (135-1), Evening News (147-1), Epic Ride (156-1), Good Money (157-1), Grand Mo the First (179-1), Mc Vay (194-1), Common Defense (234-1), No More Time (277-1), Tapalo (294-1), Lat Long (322-1), Merit (478-1), and Tessuto (516-1).

Betting on Timberlake was suspended after the Champagne (G1) and Rebel (G2) winner was removed from Kentucky Derby consideration.