2018 Kentucky Derby Odds: Justify Heads into Weekend as Betting Favorite

In the most competitive Kentucky Derby in recent memory, it is easier to justify why not to bet on one of the favorites than to wager on one of them Saturday.

Justify remains the +350 favorite (bet $100 to win $350) on the 2018 Kentucky Derby odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark despite being one of two horses in the 20-strong field that did not race as a two-year-old.

Two of the top trainers in the world will be going head-to-head once again at Churchill Downs in the first Triple Crown race of the year, as both Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher look to end the Curse of Apollo with leading entries.

No horse has won the Kentucky Derby without racing experience as a two-year-old since Apollo in 1882, but Baffert's Justify and Pletcher's Magnum Moon hope to end that long drought.

Magnum Moon is one of Pletcher's four horses in the field and sits as the +700 fourth choice behind Justify, European entry Mendelssohn (+400) and his top entry Audible (+550).

Justify is 3-0 and coming off a victory in the Santa Anita Derby, while Magnum Moon is 4-0 with wins in the Arkansas Derby and Rebel Stakes in his past two starts. Mendelssohn is trained by Irishman Aidan O'Brien and has gone 4-1, with major wins in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, Patton Stakes and UAE Derby.

Baffert will be going for his fifth win in the Kentucky Derby and Pletcher his third, although there are several other horses with reasonable odds that have a chance to upset the favorites. Keep in mind, a horse from Europe, such as Mendelssohn, has never won the Kentucky Derby. That puts even more pressure on O'Brien's colt.

Pletcher's mentor is 82-year-old Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, and he, like Baffert, has won the Kentucky Derby four times (1988, 1995, 1996 and 1999). This year, Lukas has his 49th career starter in Bravazo, one of the longest shots on the board at +5,000.

Meanwhile, Pletcher has passed Lukas with 52 career starters after qualifying Audible, Magnum Moon, Vino Rosso (+1,400) and Noble Indy (+2,800). Of that group, Audible may have the most favorable post position. The horse that started fifth won the Derby in two of the past four years, including Pletcher's Always Dreaming in 2017.

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week's top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.