It’s Triple Crown season again, ladies and gentlemen. It’s time to check out which horses to watch out for in the upcoming 2022 Kentucky Derby. Which horse will win the first leg of the Triple Crown and at Churchill Downs this coming weekend? Check out our prediction along with the favorites, a sleeper, and a long shot below.
Apparently, the horse to watch out for the most in the upcoming 2022 Kentucky Derby is Zandon. The 3-year-old Colt has never failed to show in any of his races, so far. He debuted with a win at Belmont Park back in October 2021 before placing runner-up in Grade 2 Remsen and third in Grade 2 Risen Star. In its most recent race, Zandon came away with a win in Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes just last April. Zandon is trained by Chad C. Brown, who’s won 33 percent of races this year.
Zandon is the favorite, but not by much. Epicenter is arguably the better horse between the two, considering it’s won four of six career races. Epicenter did not have the explosive start that Zandon had, as the Steven M. Asmussen-trained horse placed sixth in a maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs in September 2021, but managed to win its next race on the same track nearly two months later. Epicenter also won both of ist last two starts, topping the field in the Grade 2 Risen Star and in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.
Bob Baffert used to train Taiba, who’s one intriguing horse. For one, Taiba only has a race under its belt. It got entered in the Grade 1 Santa Anita and won right away by 7 1/2 lengths in a maiden special weight race. It’s not always that horses with fewer than three races of experience get to participate in the Kentucky Derby, but Taiba seems ready to defy expectations.
Here’s what we said about Cyberknife in our 2022 Kentucky Derby sleepers piece:
This 3-year-old colt is coming in hot to Churchill Downs. While it took three races for this horse to win its first race and placed sixth in the Grade 3 Lecomte, Cyberknife has seemingly turned a corner with back-to-back wins at Fair Grounds back in February and in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby last April. It also worth nothing that Cyberknife placed second in his debut at Churchill Downs in September 2021 but was disqualified for bumping another horse down the stretch. Nevertheless, with consecutive grades stakes wins before Saturday’s big race, Cyberknife is defintely a non-favorite horse bettors hunting for sleepers should be keeping a very close eye on.
Owned by Michael Hilary and Negar Burke, Summer Is Tomorrow reportedly just had the best training session at Churchill Downs last Monday. That’s big news for a horse that is getting relatively low expectations for the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
