Alpaca Kentucky Derby 2019: Roadster Runs Away With 2nd Annual Race

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Kentucky Derby

For the second consecutive year, the Kentucky Derby has seen a unique approach taken to help predict who’ll win the big race. It’s not a high-tech system of projections that uses analytics, but instead, it’s a race between an entirely different animal.

As the race’s official Facebook showed, they ran the Alpaca Kentucky Derby, which is exactly what it sounds like, for the second time in history. A group of Alpacas are all listed as one of the horses in the Kentucky Derby, and they race to predict who’ll take home the first-place prize.

Here’s a look at how the race played out:

It’s obviously all in good fun, and Roadster comes in listed below a few of the top favorites for the actual race but walked away victorious in the Alpaca Kentucky Derby.

Following Roadster was Tacitus, Maximum Security, Game Winner, Code of Honor, Improbable and Win Win Win to round out the top-seven. Roughly 24 hours prior to the race, Roadster was listed No. 3 in odds to win the 2019 Kentucky Derby, behind Game Winner and Improbable.

Kentucky Derby Odds 2019

The latest Kentucky Derby odds come courtesy of Westgate and were revealed by ESPN’s Marco D’Angelo. The number listed in front of each horse is their post position for Saturday’s race.

These odds came after Omaha Beach was scratched for the race, which led to Game Winner holding down the top spot. At the time, the horse was listed at 4-to-1 while Game Winner was 5-to-1. Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports explained why the horse was scratched.

Omaha Beach reportedly was coughing Wednesday morning, and an examination revealed an entrapped epiglottis — a breathing obstruction that compromises a horse’s ability to breathe during exercise.

With Omaha Beach out, Game Winner, a Bob Baffert trained horse, becomes the favorite.

2018 Alpaca Kentucky Derby Results

Unfortunately, the 2018 version of the Alpaca Kentucky Derby didn’t prove to work as an accurate preview for the main event. While the alpaca running as My Boy Jack went on to win the race, per NBC Sports, it was Justify who won the 2018 Kentucky Derby.

Behind Justify, who entered with 5-to-2 odds, was Good Magic (9-to-1) and Audible (7-to-1) to round out the top-three finishers. From there, 90-to-1 longshot Instilled Regard finished fourth, followed by the Alpaca winner in My Boy Jack. Justify was the popular choice to win last year’s race, but the 2019 Kentucky Derby could wind up as a close finish between a few horses.

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