Put on your crazy hat. Clean your favorite bow tie. Wear your brightest pastel colors. The Kentucky Derby is back, baby!
With early favorite Omaha Beach scratched from the race because of a breathing problem, Game Winner -- yes, that's the horse's name -- now is the favorite to win Saturday's race at Churchill Downs.
You can get all you need to know about betting on the "NBC Sports Bet: Derby Special" at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT, before the big race.
It could be a wet one in Louisville, though, so the winner might have to be a mudder.
Here's how to watch the 145th Kentucky Derby on TV and streaming live online.
When: 6:50 p.m. ET/3:50 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 4
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com
The 145th Kentucky Derby is set to take place on Saturday, May 4, at Churchill Downs. It's still anyone's race, with five horses having 8-1 odds or lower. The winner will go on to try and capture the elusive Triple Crown in the weeks following the Derby.
Coverage of the race, as well as the rest of the day's events, will start at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The Run for the Roses will start at 6:50 p.m. ET, and if you can't capture the action on NBC, you can check out NBC Sports Live Extra for live stream options.
Jockey Joel Rosario and Game Winner have taken over as the favorite to win this year's Kentucky Derby after Omaha Beach was scratched from the race on Wednesday with an entrapped epiglottis.
Game Winner is the first of three horses that legendary trainer Bob Baffert has in the race, giving him a great shot at capturing his sixth Derby title and tying Ben Stones' record for the most Roses titles by a trainer.
As a two-year-old, the horse won all four of his starts and was named the champion two-year-old male, according to ESPN. In 2019, he has finished second in his two races to Omaha Beach and Roadster, but seems to be on the cusp of another big-time breakout.
The speed he showed as an undefeated two-year-old should put him in a good position early. With Omaha Beach sidelined and Roadster coming out of the dreaded No. 17 post, Game Winner's chances of capturing the first leg of the Triple Crown looks promising.
While Roadster follows close behind Game Winner in his odds to capture the Roses, he has a couple obstacles in his way.
Roadster drew the No. 17 post, which many refer to as the "Curse of the 17 Post" because horses starting from that gate have gone zero for 39 from it since 1930.
Not only does the No. 17 post seem to be cursed in the Kentucky Derby world, but the post will force Roadster to run the race on the outside. The three-year-old won the Santa Anita Derby—beating Game Winner—but had an easier run on the inside while Game Winner ran the whole race on the outside.
With Roadster being forced to make a longer run in this race, it seems more unlikely he will be able to beat Game Winner down the stretch.
Improbable wraps up the last of Baffert's trio of horses and ties Roadster with 5-1 odds of winning the Derby.
The now three-year-old horse made a name for himself last year as a top Derby contender when he went undefeated, winning the Los Alamitos Futurity.
With a preference to "stalk the pace and make up ground late," Improbable is going to look to take advantage of the potential for a wet track on Saturday because of his experience racing on them at Oaklawn Park, according to CBS Sports.
